{"id":{"repo_id":"abertay","oai_identifier":"oai:rke.abertay.ac.uk:studenttheses/ddd94f14-38ad-41b9-a0e1-dd2131def98f"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/abertay/oai:rke.abertay.ac.uk:studenttheses/ddd94f14-38ad-41b9-a0e1-dd2131def98f","repository":{"repo_id":"abertay","name":"Abertay University","base_url":"https://rke.abertay.ac.uk/ws/oai"},"display":{"title":"On improving cybersecurity through memory isolation using systems management mode","abstract":"This thesis describes research into security mechanisms for protecting sensitive areas of memory from tampering or intrusion using the facilities of Systems Management Mode.<br/><br/><br/>The essence and challenge of modern computer security is to isolate or contain data and applications in a variety of ways, while still allowing sharing where desirable. If Alice and Bob share a computer, Alice should not be able to access Bob’s passwords or other data; Alice’s web browser should not be able to be tricked into sending email, and viewing a social networking web page in that browser should not allow that page to interact with her online banking service.<br/><br/><br/>The aim of this work is to explore techniques for such isolation and how they can be used usefully on standard PCs. This work focuses on the creation of a small dedicated area to perform cryptographic operations, isolated from the rest of the system. This is a sufficiently useful facility that many modern devices such as smartphones incorporate dedicated hardware for this purpose, but other approaches have advantages which are discussed.<br/><br/><br/>As a case study, this research included the creation of a secure web server whose encryption key is protected using this approach such that even an intruder with full Administrator level access cannot extract the key. A proof of concept backdoor which captures and exfiltrates encryption keys using a modified processor was also demonstrated.","abstract_html":"This thesis describes research into security mechanisms for protecting sensitive areas of memory from tampering or intrusion using the facilities of Systems Management Mode.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;The essence and challenge of modern computer security is to isolate or contain data and applications in a variety of ways, while still allowing sharing where desirable. If Alice and Bob share a computer, Alice should not be able to access Bob’s passwords or other data; Alice’s web browser should not be able to be tricked into sending email, and viewing a social networking web page in that browser should not allow that page to interact with her online banking service.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;The aim of this work is to explore techniques for such isolation and how they can be used usefully on standard PCs. This work focuses on the creation of a small dedicated area to perform cryptographic operations, isolated from the rest of the system. This is a sufficiently useful facility that many modern devices such as smartphones incorporate dedicated hardware for this purpose, but other approaches have advantages which are discussed.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;As a case study, this research included the creation of a secure web server whose encryption key is protected using this approach such that even an intruder with full Administrator level access cannot extract the key. A proof of concept backdoor which captures and exfiltrates encryption keys using a modified processor was also demonstrated.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Sutherland, James"],"institution":"Abertay University","degree_name":"PhD","degree_level":"Doctoral Thesis","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Ferguson, Robert","Coull, Natalie"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2019,"date_issued":"2019-4-18","date_published":"2019-4-18","updated_at":"2026-07-24T00:50:23Z","subjects":["Enclave","SMM","Systems management mode","Memory protection","Isolation","Processor"],"languages":["eng"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["oai:rke.abertay.ac.uk:studenttheses/ddd94f14-38ad-41b9-a0e1-dd2131def98f"],"render_values":[{"text":"oai:rke.abertay.ac.uk:studenttheses/ddd94f14-38ad-41b9-a0e1-dd2131def98f","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://rke.abertay.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/ddd94f14-38ad-41b9-a0e1-dd2131def98f","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Ferguson, Robert","Coull, Natalie"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Sutherland, James"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2019-4-18"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2019-4-18"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.department","label":"Dc Publisher Department","values":["Department of Cybersecurity and Computing","SDI"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["Abertay University"]},{"key":"dc:relation.isreferencedby","label":"Dc Relation Isreferencedby","values":["https://rke.abertay.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/ddd94f14-38ad-41b9-a0e1-dd2131def98f"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["Doctoral Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationname","label":"Dc Type Qualificationname","values":["PhD"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Enclave","SMM","Systems management mode","Memory protection","Isolation","Processor"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["eng"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["oai:rke.abertay.ac.uk:studenttheses/ddd94f14-38ad-41b9-a0e1-dd2131def98f","https://rke.abertay.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/ddd94f14-38ad-41b9-a0e1-dd2131def98f"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://rke.abertay.ac.uk/files/15896863/Sutherland_J_On_Improving_Cybsersecurity_2018_PhD.pdf"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This thesis describes research into security mechanisms for protecting sensitive areas of memory from tampering or intrusion using the facilities of Systems Management Mode.<br/><br/><br/>The essence and challenge of modern computer security is to isolate or contain data and applications in a variety of ways, while still allowing sharing where desirable. 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