Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Jonathan D Schwartz

Kenneth D Ray

Paul England

Stefan Thom

Russell Humphries

James Anthony Schwartz, Jr

Jamie Hunter

Kedarnath Atmaram Dubhashi

Scott Field

Michael G Sheldon

Simon Skaria

James H Hong

Sambavi Muthukrishnan

Paul J Leach

Charles W Kaufman

Arun Upadhyaya Kishan

James Morris Alkove

Hari R Pulapaka

Michael Todd Kramer

Benjamin M Schultz

Alexandre Vicktorovich Grigorovitch

Jason Duane Clark

Kirt A Debique

Octavian Tony Ureche

Richard Bruce Ward

William R Tipton

Frederick Justus Smith

Geoffrey T Dunbar

Thomas C Jones

John E Brezak

Andrew M Herron

Chadd B Knowlton

Balaji Balasubramanyan

Himanshu Soni

Klaus U Schutz

Sumedh N Barde

Adil Ahmed Sherwani

Zeke Book Odins-Lucas

Nathan Jeffrey Ide

Philip Joseph Hallin

Vishal Agarwal

Clifford P Van Dyke

Eric C Perlin

Giridhar Viswanathan

Sermet Iskin

Peter T Brundrett

Michael Grier

Saurav Sinha

Krassimir Emilov Karamfilov

Margarit Simeonov Chenchev

Ming Ma

Ankit Srivastava

Matthew David Kurjanowicz

Jeffrey B Hamblin

Magnus Nystrom

Christopher Leonard Walstad

Reid Joseph Kuhn

Matthew Charles Setzer

Duncan G Bryce

Giles Edward Van Der Bogert

Dayi Zhou

Anooshiravan Saboori

Tony Ureche

Yashar Bahman

Karanbir Singh

Pankaj Mohan Kamat

Pranav Kukreja

Narasimhan Ramasubramanian

John Richard McDowell

Yifan Wang

Yu Lin Sie

Ibrahim Mohammad Ismail

Chaitanya Dutt Upadhyay

Aleksandr Radutskiy

Prakhar Srivastava

Nived Kalappuraikal Sivadas

Raphael Gianotti Serrano Dos Santo

Sainath Narendranath Thadkal

Stephen F Scallen

Peter Dawoud

James Anthony Schwartz Jr

Krassimir E Karamfilov

John Mcdowell

Ducan G Bryce

Securely performing file operations. A method includes determining a licensing characteristic assigned to a file. When the licensing characteristic assigned to the file meets or exceeds a predetermined licensing condition, then the method includes performing a file operation on the file in a host operating system while preventing the file operation from being performed in the guest operating system. When the licensing characteristic assigned to the file does not meet or exceed the predetermined licensing condition, then the method includes performing the file operation on the file in the guest operating system while preventing the file operation from being performed directly in the host operating system.

Method and system for persisting files

In one embodiment, a user device may reestablish access to a user resource while forgoing use of a user credential during a system reboot. The user device may receive the user credential from a user during an initial login to access the user resource. The user device may create an ephemeral entropy to access the user resource. The user device may access the user resource using the ephemeral entropy.

Resumption of logon across reboots

A system for bootstrap provisioning of a device is provided. A vouching device is provisioned to access a bootstrap account of a bootstrap account provider and a secondary account of a secondary account provider. The bootstrap account provider stores an indication of the secondary account, and the secondary account provider stores verification data to verify a certification of the vouching device. A target device is provisioned to access the bootstrap account of the bootstrap account provider. The target device receives from the bootstrap account provider an indication that the target device is provisioned with the secondary account provider. The target device directs generation of a certification by the vouching device of target authentication data of the target device. The target device then sends the certification to the secondary account provider to effect the provisioning of the target device to access the secondary account.

Automatic provisioning of a device to access an account

Single sign-on techniques via an application or browser are described. In one or more implementations, a single instance of entry of authentication information is received that is entered via interaction with an application or browser of a computing device. Responsive to this receipt, the single instance of the entry of authentication information is used by the computing device automatically and without user intervention to cause authentication to obtain access to one or more network services that are accessible via a network by the application and the browser.

Single sign-on via application or browser

A method of establishing a protected environment within a computing device including validating a kernel component loaded into a kernel of the computing device, establishing a security state for the kernel based on the validation, creating a secure process and loading a software component into the secure process, periodically checking the security state of the kernel, and notifying the secure process when the security state of the kernel has changed.

Protected computing environment

A method to identify a child process to a parent process in an operating system includes obtaining a token and login identifier from the operating system. The parent process creates a remote procedure call communications endpoint to communicate with the child process. Thereafter, a child process is spawned by the parent process. A child-initiated request to communicate with the parent process is then received by the parent process. In order to verify the identity of the child-initiated request, the parent process impersonates the child process and receives as identifier that identifies the requestor child process. The requestor process identifier and the spawned child identifier are compared. Based on the comparison, the parent process responds to the child-initiated request. In another embodiment, process identifiers are used by the parent process to verify the identity of a child process the requests communication with the parent process.

Trusted communications with child processes

The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for licensing protected content to application sets. Embodiments of the invention permit a local machine to increase its participation in authorizing access to protected content. For example, an operating system within an appropriate computing environment is permitted to determine if an application is authorized to access protected content. Thus, the application is relieved from having to store a publishing license. Further, authorization decisions are partially distributed, easing the resource burden on a protection server. Accordingly, embodiments of the invention can facilitate more robust and efficient authorization decisions when access to protected content is requested.

Licensing protected content to application sets

Systems and methods are provided for maintaining and updating a secure boot process on a computer with a trusted platform module (TPM). A boot process may be maintained by inspecting a log of TPM activity, determining data that prevented a secret to unseal, and returning the data to an original state. In situations where this type of recovery is not workable, techniques for authenticating a user may be used, allowing the authenticated user to bypass the security features of the boot process and reseal the boot secrets to platform configuration register (PCR) values that may have changed. Finally, a secure boot process may be upgraded by migrating TPM sealed secrets to a temporary storage location, updating one or more aspects of a secure boot process, and resealing the secrets to the resulting new platform configuration. Other advantages and features of the invention are described below.

Systems and methods for updating a secure boot process on a computer with a hardware security module

Systems and/or methods are described that enable a user to elevate his or her rights. In one embodiment, these systems and/or methods detect a task which is not authorized for a user account. Responsive to detecting the task, the embodiment presents a different user account that is authorized to allow the task and information relating to the task.

Task initiated account presentation for rights elevation

System(s), method(s), and/or technique(s) ('tools') are described that enable a user to permit multiple tasks requiring elevated rights with as little as one rights elevation. For example, the tools may enable an installation wizard operating within a limited-rights context to perform multiple tasks that require a higher-rights context with a single rights elevation by the user. The tools may do so using an object agent, an instance of which may be created by the installation wizard following a single rights elevation. This instance of the object agent then creates instances of other objects without requiring that the user elevate his or her rights. These other objects' instances may then run the tasks that require the higher-rights context.

Permitting multiple tasks requiring elevated rights

A computing device has a user desktop on which a relatively less-secure user application is executed and a secure desktop elevated from the user desktop on which a relatively more-secure secure application is executed upon a request thereto from the user application. To securely collect information from a user at the computer device with regard to the secure application at the secure desktop, an access interface is securely executed on the secure desktop and is visually presented in conjunction with the requesting user application of the user desktop such that the access interface is visually coupled to the requesting user application and is visually perceived by the user along with such requesting user application.

Secure privilege elevation by way of secure desktop on computing device

In a computer with a trusted platform module (TPM), an expected hash value of a boot component may be placed into a platform configuration register (PCR), which allows a TPM to unseal a secret. The secret may then be used to decrypt the boot component. The hash of the decrypted boot component may then be calculated and the result can be placed in a PCR. The PCRs may then be compared. If they do not, access to the an important secret for system operation can be revoked. Also, a first secret may be accessible only when a first plurality of PCR values are extant, while a second secret is accessible only after one or more of the first plurality of PCR values has been replaced with a new value, thereby necessarily revoking further access to the first secret in order to grant access to the second secret.

Systems and methods for securely booting a computer with a trusted processing module

An operating system for a computing device has a first session for a user that includes a first base process that has a first privileges token attached thereto. The first privileges token includes substantially a full set of privileges of the user on the operating system. The operating system also has a second session for the user that includes a second base process that has a second privileges token attached thereto. The second privileges token is derived from the first privileges token and includes only a minimum set of privileges of the user on the operating system. Thus, the second, limited token does not have all privileges associated with the first, full token but instead has a limited set of privileges and not extra privileges that could be employed to take actions that would be harmful, deceptive, or malicious.

Providing user on computer operating system with full privileges token and limited privileges token

Systems and methods for validating integrity of an executable file are described. In one aspect, multiple partial image hashes are generated, the combination of which represent a digest of an entire executable file. Subsequent to loading the executable file on a computing device, a request to page a portion of the executable file into memory for execution is intercepted. Responsive to intercepting the request, and prior to paging the portion into memory for execution, a validation hash of the portion is computed. The validation hash is compared to a partial hash of the multiple partial image hashes to determine code integrity of the portion. The partial hash represents a same code segment as the portion.

Systems and methods for validating executable file integrity using partial image hashes

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Kirkland, WA, United States of America

Jonathan D Schwartz