US 11,743,058 B2
NVDIMM security with physically unclonable functions
Janani Swaminathan, Porur (IN); Trinadhachari Kosuru, Bangalore (IN); Anand Haridass, Bangalore (IN); and Santosh Balasubramanian, Bangalore (IN)
Assigned to International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US)
Filed by International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US)
Filed on Mar. 5, 2020, as Appl. No. 16/809,727.
Prior Publication US 2021/0281431 A1, Sep. 9, 2021
Int. Cl. H04L 9/32 (2006.01); G06F 12/14 (2006.01)
CPC H04L 9/3278 (2013.01) [G06F 12/1483 (2013.01); H04L 9/3273 (2013.01); G06F 2212/1052 (2013.01)] 6 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer-implemented method for authenticating a host/NVDIMM pair, the method comprising:
determining a first physically unclonable function (PUF), with the PUF being based on electrical variations of a host circuit board located in the host that form a signature unique to that particular host circuit board hardware;
determining a second PUF associated with electrical variations of the NVDIMM that form a signature unique to that particular NVDIMM hardware;
performing a challenge response to identify the host based on the first PUF,
to identify the NVDIMM based on the second PUF and to determine that the NVDIMM does not match an appropriate host; and
responsive to the determination that the NVDIMM does not match an appropriate host, putting the NVDIMM in guard mode to allow for resolution of the mismatch in host and NVDIMM hardware.