System and method for measuring staleness of attestation during booting between a first and second device by generating a first and second time and calculating a difference between the first and second time to measure the staleness

• Main Authors: KRUUS PETER S, CHALLENER DAVID C
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 04.03.2014
• Subjects: CALCULATING; COMPUTING; COUNTING; ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE; ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING; ELECTRICITY; PHYSICS; PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION; TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHICCOMMUNICATION

A method is provided for determining with a first device, staleness of attestation measurements at a second device. The method includes booting up the second device at a first time, the second device having a communication portion, a security portion, a basic input/output system and a trusted protection module. Further, the method includes generating an initial counter based on the booting up of the second device at the first time. A current counter is then generated based on a second time after the first time. The method additionally includes providing a request to the second device from the first device, the request requesting booting information and current information, the booting information being based on the initial counter, the current information being based on the current counter. Still further, the method includes providing a response to the first device from the second device, the response including the booting information and the current information. Finally, the method includes determining, via the first device, the generated initial counter and the current counter based on the response.