System and method to redirect and unlock software secure disk devices in a high latency environment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9760730-B2
Application number	US-201514839375-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 28, 2015
Priority date	Aug 28, 2015
Publication date	Sep 12, 2017
Grant date	Sep 12, 2017

Abstract

A software secure universal serial bus (USB) disk connected to a client may be redirected to a server. Requests to a virtual software secure USB disk may not be accessible because of network latency. For example, a client locking application may not verify required parameters before expiration of a time period. A client may be configured to unmount its file system (if present) and lock its disk stack. The server may load a virtual disk enumerator and file system stack to process transaction requests to the virtual software secure USB disk. The partition manager may create a partition associated with a hidden partition of the virtual software secure USB disk and associate a locking application in a separate virtual small partition. All requests to unlock the virtual hidden partition are processed at the server by the locking application instead of at the client which reduces the overall bandwidth.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving, at a server, a disk arrival notification that a software secure universal serial bus (USB) disk has been coupled to a client;
issuing a command by a proxy server of the server to a virtual disk enumerator to create a virtual software secure USB disk associated with the software secure USB disk;
loading a disk driver corresponding to the virtual software secure USB disk;
loading a file system stack corresponding to the virtual software secure USB disk, wherein the file system stack provides file level access of the virtual software secure USB disk;
creating a virtual hidden partition of the virtual software secure USB disk, wherein the virtual hidden partition is associated with a hidden partition of the software secure USB disk, and wherein access to the virtual hidden partition requires an encryption key;
creating a virtual small partition of the virtual software secure USB disk, wherein the virtual small partition is associated with a small partition of the software secure USB disk;
creating a partition, wherein the partition is associated with the virtual small partition;
creating by a locking application the encryption key;
unlocking the virtual hidden partition at the server by the locking application; and
transmitting a request to the virtual hidden partition.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
managing the virtual software secure USB disk by the disk driver.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
receiving by the locking application one or more parameters associated with the virtual software secure USB disk; and
validating the one or more parameters within a predetermined time period.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
posting by a software security controller driver the request to a secure partition, wherein the secure partition communicates the request to the virtual hidden partition.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the software security controller driver uses the encryption key to obtain access to the virtual hidden partition.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the secure partition is managed by a partition manager driver.

7. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
encrypting the virtual hidden partition by the software security controller driver.

8. A system comprising:
a server;
one or more central processing units for processing information of the first server;
a memory of the server communicatively coupled to the one or more central processing units; and
one or more modules that comprise instructions stored in the memory, the instructions, when executed by the one or more processing units, operable to perform operations comprising:
receiving, at the server, a disk arrival notification that a software secure universal serial bus (USB) disk has been coupled to a client;
issuing a command by a proxy server of the server to a virtual disk enumerator to create a virtual software secure USB disk associated with the software secure USB disk;
loading a disk driver corresponding to the virtual software secure USB disk;
loading a file system stack corresponding to the virtual software secure USB disk, wherein the file system stack provides file level access of the virtual software secure USB disk;
creating a virtual hidden partition of the virtual software secure USB disk, wherein the virtual hidden partition is associated with a hidden partition of the software secure USB disk, and wherein access to the virtual hidden partition requires an encryption key;
creating a virtual small partition of the virtual software secure USB disk, wherein the virtual small partition is associated with a small partition of the software secure USB disk;
creating a partition, wherein the partition is associated with the virtual small partition;
creating by a locking application the encryption key;
unlocking the virtual hidden partition at the server by the locking application; and
transmitting a request to the virtual hidden partition.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the instructions further operable to perform operations comprising:
managing the virtual software secure USB disk by the disk driver.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the instructions further operable to perform operations comprising:
receiving by the locking application one or more parameters associated with the virtual software secure USB disk; and
validating the one or more parameters within a predetermined time period.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the instructions further operable to perform operations comprising:
posting by a software security controller driver the request to a secure partition, wherein the secure partition communicates the request to the virtual hidden partition.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the software security controller driver uses the encryption key to obtain access to the virtual hidden partition.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the secure partition is managed by a partition manager driver.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the instructions further operable to perform operations comprising:
encrypting the virtual hidden partition by the software security controller driver.

15. One or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media embodying software operable when executed by one or more computer systems to:
receive, at a server, a disk arrival notification that a software secure universal serial bus (USB) disk has been coupled to a client;
issue a command by a proxy server of the server to a virtual disk enumerator to create a virtual software secure USB disk associated with the software secure USB disk;
load a disk driver corresponding to the virtual software secure USB disk;
load a file system stack corresponding to the virtual software secure USB disk, wherein the file system stack provides file level access of the virtual software secure USB disk;
create a virtual hidden partition of the virtual software secure USB disk, wherein the virtual hidden partition is associated with a hidden partition of the software secure USB disk, and wherein access to the virtual hidden partition requires an encryption key;
create a virtual small partition of the virtual software secure USB disk, wherein the virtual small partition is associated with a small partition of the software secure USB disk;
create a partition, wherein the partition is associated with the virtual small partition;
create by a locking application the encryption key;
unlock the virtual hidden partition at the server by the locking application; and
transmit a request to the virtual hidden partition.

16. The media of claim 15 , wherein the software is further operable when executed to:
manage the virtual software secure USB disk by the disk driver.

17. The media of claim 15 , wherein the software is further operable when executed to:
post by a software security controller driver the request to a secure partition, wherein the secure partition communicates the request to the virtual hidden partition.

18. The media of claim 17 , wherein the software security controller driver uses the encryption key to obtain access to the virtual hidden partition.

19. The media of claim 17 , wherein the secure partition is managed by a partition manager driver.

20. The media of claim 17 , wherein the software is further operable when executed to:
encrypt the virtual hidden partition by the software security controller driver.

Assignees

• Dell Products Lp

Inventors

• Vajravel Gokul T

Classifications

• H04L63/0428

  wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload · CPC title

• G06F9/5077

  Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources (specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455) · CPC title

• G06F21/6218 Primary

  to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database · CPC title

• H04L63/0281

  Proxies · CPC title

• G06F12/1408

  by using cryptography (for digital transmission H04L9/00) · CPC title