Idiosyncratic Computer Signatures Used for Software Protection

During Phase I, Mobile-Mind will identify and analyze candidate hardware-generated signatures for software protection purposes. The target solution creates a tight, tamper-resistant binding between a specific software executable and a specific hardwareexecution platform. Unique, non-cloneable signature properties of the hardware are mixed with the software code and execution stream so that the software will run successfully only on the specific platform. Software binding techniques includecryptographically merging the hardware platform signatures with software computations so that the execution stream and results are valid only when the designated software is run on one specific machine.After establishing the range of feasible hardware signature sources, Mobile-Mind will assess the degree of difficulty of acquiring a consistently identifiable and unique signature from the selected sources, then proceed to test methodologies forestablishing an appropriate software-hardware interface. Based on these results, Mobile-Mind will establish the ability of the signature to discriminate among a small number of identical platforms. Finally, Mobile-Mind will propose alternative methods forirrevocably binding the software to the unique signature of the computational platform and will recommend a process for building and testing selected end-to-end solutions that can be implemented as prototypes during Phase II. Successfully binding software execution to a specific computing platform will create a number of immediate security benefits for the Department of Defense, as well as generating significant commercial opportunities for software protection services andproducts. These benefits are summarized below and discussed in detail in the Commercialization Strategy section.Software Security Benefits¿Locks down sensitive software programs and applications to a specific computing platform¿Establishes a hardware barrier against information leakage due to software theft - software will not run independently from the designated hardware platform¿Eliminates dependence on user-centric software protection routines and anti-theft policies¿Potential for associating computer-generated output and results (including applications, data and documents) with the particular platform that created it¿Potential for tracking any unauthorized software distribution or downloading back to the source hardware, allowing authorities to identify the source of attempted software theftHardware Security Benefits¿A computer with a unique hardware signature could potentially be configured to reject software that has not been authorized to interface with that signature, preventing users from running software programs not intended for that machine and preventingcertain types of malicious software code from damaging that hardware platform.Commercial Applications¿Commercial software protection products and services¿Digital Rights Management solutions that bind media to its hardware player