18508208. MEASURED RESTART OF MICROCONTROLLERS simplified abstract (MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC)

MEASURED RESTART OF MICROCONTROLLERS

Organization Name

MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC

Inventor(s)

Stavros Volos of Cambridge (GB)

Colin Doak of Bristol (GB)

Simon Douglas Chambers of Bristol (GB)

David Ruggles of Bristol (GB)

Richard Neal of Bristol (GB)

Cedric Alain Marie Fournet of Cambridge (GB)

Kapil Vaswani of Bangalore (IN)

Balaji Vembu of Redmond WA (US)

MEASURED RESTART OF MICROCONTROLLERS - A simplified explanation of the abstract

This abstract first appeared for US patent application 18508208 titled 'MEASURED RESTART OF MICROCONTROLLERS

Simplified Explanation

The computing device described in the patent application includes a first microcontroller with a first immutable bootloader and first mutable firmware, as well as a second microcontroller with second mutable firmware and a second immutable bootloader. The second immutable bootloader sends a measurement of the second mutable firmware to the first immutable bootloader whenever the second microcontroller restarts, allowing the first microcontroller to include the measurement in the attestation.

• First microcontroller with first immutable bootloader and first mutable firmware
• Second microcontroller with second mutable firmware and second immutable bootloader
• Second immutable bootloader sends measurement of second mutable firmware to first immutable bootloader upon restart

Potential Applications

This technology could be applied in secure boot processes for computing devices, ensuring the integrity of firmware and protecting against unauthorized modifications.

Problems Solved

1. Ensuring the integrity of firmware on computing devices 2. Protecting against unauthorized modifications and tampering

Benefits

1. Enhanced security for computing devices 2. Ability to verify the authenticity of firmware 3. Prevention of unauthorized access and modifications

Potential Commercial Applications

Securing IoT devices, enhancing cybersecurity measures in critical infrastructure systems, and improving the overall security of embedded systems.

Possible Prior Art

One possible prior art could be the use of secure boot processes in computing devices to verify the integrity of firmware and prevent unauthorized modifications.

Unanswered Questions

How does the unique device secret burnt into hardware enhance the security of the computing device?

The unique device secret burnt into hardware is used by the first immutable bootloader to generate an attestation of the first mutable firmware. This ensures that only authorized firmware can be loaded onto the device, enhancing security.

What measures are in place to prevent potential attacks on the attestation process?

It is not clear from the abstract what specific security measures are in place to prevent potential attacks on the attestation process, such as replay attacks or man-in-the-middle attacks. Further details on the security protocols used would be beneficial to understand the robustness of the system.

Original Abstract Submitted

In various examples there is a computing device comprising: a first microcontroller comprising a first immutable bootloader and first mutable firmware. The first immutable bootloader uses a unique device secret burnt into hardware of the computing device in order to generate an attestation of the first mutable firmware. The computing device has a second microcontroller. There is second mutable firmware at the second microcontroller. There is a second immutable bootloader at the second microcontroller which sends a measurement of the second mutable firmware to the first immutable bootloader whenever the second microcontroller restarts, such that the first microcontroller is able to include the measurement in the attestation.