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US 9,892,293 B1Granted
Tamper detection system
AssigneeSquare, Inc.
InventorsJeremy Wade, Sean Michael Hafemann
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Disclosed is a technique for prevention of false tamper positives experienced by an electronic device by use of a custom profile. The technique includes application of sensors of the device to collect data from the environment. Further, the device determines whether an event causes accidental triggering of tamper response as the environmental data varies. Accordingly, the conditions triggering a tamper response are dynamically changed as the environmental data changes.
Claims28
A card reader with built-in tamper protection, the card reader comprising:
- a processor;
- a card reader interface coupled to the processor, to read data from a payment card;
- a tamper monitoring component configured to:
- monitor voltage measurements on at least one conductive trace disposed within the card reader to facilitate detection of tampering;
- detect a tampering-induced condition as a change in voltage below a predetermined threshold resulting upon an attempt of tampering with the card reader;
- and
- output a signal to disable access to sensitive data stored within the card reader in response to detecting the tampering-induced condition;
- and
- one or more sensors configured to obtain the voltage measurements on the at least one conductive trace disposed within;
- wherein the tamper monitoring component is further configured to:
- monitor the voltage measurements obtained by the one or more sensors over time;
- identify a variation, over time, in the voltage measurements caused by one or more changes in an environment in which the card reader operates, the one or more changes in the environment comprising at least one of a change in temperature, humidity, or pressure experienced by the card reader;
- determine, based at least in part on the variation in the voltage measurements over time, a new threshold below which the change in voltage indicates a tampering-induced condition;
- generate a profile customized to the card reader, wherein the profile indicates the new threshold different from the predetermined threshold used to detect the tampering-induced condition;
- and
- apply the new threshold to determine whether or not any changes in voltage satisfy the tampering-induced condition.
13 more elements
An electronic device comprising:
- a processor;
- one or more sensors configured to obtain measurements for at least one device characteristic of the electronic device over time;
- and
- a memory storing instructions which when executed by the processor cause the electronic device to perform operations including:
- determining that a change in the measurements for the at least one device characteristic satisfies a tamper condition which indicates tampering with the electronic device;
- determining that the change in the measurements for the at least one device characteristic was caused at least partly by a change in an environment of the electronic device;
- and
- modifying the tamper condition for the electronic device based at least in part on the change in the measurements.
5 more elements
A method of detecting tampering in an electronic device, the method comprising:
- monitoring data collected by one or more sensors of the electronic device to determine that the electronic device changed from a first state to a second state, wherein the second state is associated with a tamper condition which triggers a tamper response;
- determining that the electronic device changing from the first state to the second state was caused at least partly by a change in an environment of the electronic device;
- and
- based at least in part on determining that the change from the first state to the second state was caused at least partly by the change in the environment, creating a tamper profile specific to the electronic device to prevent triggering of the tamper response due to the change in the environment.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.