Forcepoint Federal LLC

Raytheon Company

Forcepoint LLC

Michael Simms

Matthew D Neumann

Irby J Thompson, Jr

John R Wagner

Ryan C Salsamendi

A method includes detecting a triggering event at a hypervisor, where the hypervisor is executed by a computing node. The method also includes capturing, from a memory device of the computing node using the hypervisor, one or more images of a basic input/output system (BIOS) of the computing node and/or a firmware of the computing node. The method further includes analyzing the one or more images to detect a problem with the computing node and taking at least one action in response to detecting the problem with the computing node. The one or more images are obtained by the hypervisor directly from the memory device.

Technique for hypervisor-based firmware acquisition and analysis

A method includes receiving a request at a first hypervisor from an application within a virtual machine. The virtual machine is executed within a virtualization layer supported by a second hypervisor, and the virtual machine and the hypervisors are executed by a computing node. The method also includes interrupting execution of the application and determining an authorization key using hashing operations performed by the first hypervisor based on measurements associated with the computing node and data associated with the first hypervisor. The method further includes storing the authorization key and resuming execution of the application. In addition, the method could include performing the receiving, interrupting, determining, storing, and resuming steps at each of multiple computing nodes in a computing cloud, where each computing node executes first and second hypervisors. The first hypervisors in the computing nodes can bind the virtual machine to the computing cloud.

Hypervisor-based binding of data to cloud environment for improved security

A method includes receiving a request at a hypervisor from an application, where the application and the hypervisor are executed by a computing node. The request identifies a memory location in a memory device of the computing node, and the memory location is associated with a virtual machine executed by the computing node. The method also includes obtaining a snapshot of contents of the memory location in the memory device, where the snapshot is obtained by the hypervisor directly from the memory device. The method further includes providing the snapshot to the application. The application could form part of a second virtual machine that is executed by the computing node.

Technique for verifying virtual machine integrity using hypervisor-based memory snapshots

This disclosure addresses systems and methods for the protection of hardware and software in a computing environment. A hypervisor-monitor may be nested between the hardware of a host system and a hypervisor that is capable of supporting one or more guest virtual machines. The hypervisor-monitor may intercept exceptions generated by one or more processors in the host system and inspect software instructions for the hypervisor and the guests. Inspection may include performing a hash of the software instructions and a comparison of the hash with authorized software modules or a set of known malware. In this manner the hypervisor-monitor may monitor prevent the execution of malware by the hypervisor or the guests or provide a record of when code of an unknown origin was executed.

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Indialantic, FL, United States of America

Michael Simms