The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 17, 1990
Filed:
Jan. 28, 1988
Abhai Johri, Gaithersburg, MD (US);
Gary L Luckenbaugh, Gaithersburg, MD (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
The trusted path mechanism invention guarantees that data typed by a user on a terminal keyboard is protected from any intrusion by unauthorized programs. It allows a user to create a non-forgeable and non-penetrable communication path between the user's terminal and the trusted operating system software. The user can create a trusted path by simply pressing a key, called the Secure Attention Key (SAK), on the terminal keyboard. This operation can be called when the user logs into the system in order to be sure that the user is communicating with the real login program and not a Trojan horse program masquerading as a login program, which could steal the user's password. After the user establishes the trusted path, he can enter his critical data, such as a password, and can be sure that his critical data is not being stolen by an intruder's program. Then, after the user logs out, he can be sure that the trusted path has actually logged him out of the system so that a Trojan horse program is not capable of continuing the session started by the user.