Secure system for remotely waking a computer in a power-down state

Abstract

A secure system and method is provided for remotely waking a computer from a power down state. In one embodiment, a network interface card receives incoming data packets via a network connector. A control module is coupled to the network connector and is configured to search the incoming packets for a wake-up pattern. The control module also verifies that the packet's destination address matches the destination address of the network interface card. If the destination addresses match and a wake-up pattern is found, the control module decrypts an encrypted value from the incoming packet and compares the result to an expected value. A successful comparison causes the control module to assert a signal to wake up the host computer. Preferably, a standard public/private key pair encryption scheme is used, and the source of the data packet encrypts the expected value with a private key. All computers which may receive wake-up packets are provided with a public key with which to decrypt values contained in a security field of any wake-up packets. A successful decryption serves to certify that the wake-up packet was transmitted from an authorized source. For added security, the expected value and public/private keys may be changed on a regular basis, or even every time a valid wake-up packet is received. The new value may be provided in the wake-up packet, to be stored by the network card for the next use.