Remote access control of storage devices

摘要

An access control device can be communicationally coupled to a storage device and can control access thereto. The access control device can comprise information, such as identities of authorized entities, to enable the access control device to independently determine whether to provide access to an associated storage device. Alternatively, the access control device can comprise information to establish a secure connection to an authorization computing device and the access control device can implement the decisions of the authorization computing device. The access control device can control access by instructing a storage device to execute specific firmware instructions to prevent meaningful responses to data storage related requests. The access control device can also comprise storage-related cryptographic information utilized by the storage device to encrypt and decrypt data. In such a case, the access control device can control access by not releasing the storage-related cryptographic information to the storage device.

主权项

1. A method of provisioning an access control device comprising:
communicationally coupling the access control device to a provisioning computing device, the access control device having a physical configuration of a memory card; storing, on the access control device, using the provisioning computing device, a first set of access control information identifying whether the access control device will allow a storage device, to which the access control device will be communicationally coupled, to meaningfully respond to data storage related requests directed to a first set of data that is stored on the storage device; and storing, on the access control device, using the provisioning computing deice, a second set of access control information, differing from the first set of access control information, identifying whether the access control device will allow the storage device to meaningfully respond to data storage related requests directed to a second set of data that is also stored on the storage device, the second set of data differing from the first set of data; wherein the access control device comprises one or more processing units that are configured to: determine whether to allow the storage device to meaningfully respond to the data storage related requests based, at least in part, on the stored first set of access control information or the store second set of access control information.