Patents by Inventor Sean Swehla

Sean Swehla has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 10084598
    Abstract: Technical solutions are described for authenticating a hosting system prior to securely deploying a shrouded virtual server. An example method includes receiving, by a hypervisor, a request for a public certificate, from a client device that requested the virtual server, and sending the public certificate of the hosting system that executes the hypervisor. The method also includes receiving, in response to the public certificate being successfully authenticated by the client device using a third-party verification system, a session key based on a public key included in the public certificate. The method also includes decrypting the session key using a private key, where the private key is pre-installed in the hosting system by a manufacturer of the hosting system, and sending an acknowledgement message encrypted using the session key. The method also includes establishing a secure communication between the client device and the hypervisor using the session key.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 25, 2018
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Khary J. Alexander, Reinhard T. Buendgen, K. Paul Muller, James A. O'Connor, William J. Rooney, Tiberiu Suto, Craig R. Walters, Sean Swehla
  • Patent number: 9998459
    Abstract: Technical solutions are described for securely deploying a shrouded virtual server. An example method includes sending, by a host manager, authentication information of a hosting system to a client device in response to a request from the client device. The \method also includes receiving a request to deploy a virtual server using a shrouded mode. The method also includes deploying a preconfigured hypervisor on the hosting system, where the preconfigured hypervisor is deployed in an immutable mode that disables changes to security settings of the preconfigured hypervisor. The method also includes deploying, by the preconfigured hypervisor, a preconfigured boot image as an instance of the virtual server on the preconfigured hypervisor. The method also includes sending, by the host manager, an identifier of the virtual server for receipt by the client device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 12, 2018
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Khary J. Alexander, Utz Bacher, Reinhard T. Buendgen, Patrick J. Callaghan, John C. Dayka, Thomas B. Mathias, K. Paul Muller, James A. O'Connor, William J. Rooney, Kurt N. Schroeder, Peter G. Spera, Tiberiu Suto, Sean Swehla, Stefan Usenbinz, Craig R. Walters
  • Publication number: 20180063136
    Abstract: Technical solutions are described for securely deploying a shrouded virtual server. An example method includes sending, by a host manager, authentication information of a hosting system to a client device in response to a request from the client device. The \method also includes receiving a request to deploy a virtual server using a shrouded mode. The method also includes deploying a preconfigured hypervisor on the hosting system, where the preconfigured hypervisor is deployed in an immutable mode that disables changes to security settings of the preconfigured hypervisor. The method also includes deploying, by the preconfigured hypervisor, a preconfigured boot image as an instance of the virtual server on the preconfigured hypervisor. The method also includes sending, by the host manager, an identifier of the virtual server for receipt by the client device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 17, 2017
    Publication date: March 1, 2018
    Inventors: Khary J. Alexander, Utz Bacher, Reinhard T. Buendgen, Patrick J. Callaghan, John C. Dayka, Thomas B. Mathias, K. Paul Muller, James A. O'Connor, William J. Rooney, Kurt N. Schroeder, Peter G. Spera, Tiberiu Suto, Sean Swehla, Stefan Usenbinz, Craig R. Walters
  • Patent number: 9882901
    Abstract: Technical solutions are described for securely deploying a shrouded virtual server. An example method includes sending, by a host manager, authentication information of a hosting system to a client device in response to a request from the client device. The \method also includes receiving a request to deploy a virtual server using a shrouded mode. The method also includes deploying a preconfigured hypervisor on the hosting system, where the preconfigured hypervisor is deployed in an immutable mode that disables changes to security settings of the preconfigured hypervisor. The method also includes deploying, by the preconfigured hypervisor, a preconfigured boot image as an instance of the virtual server on the preconfigured hypervisor. The method also includes sending, by the host manager, an identifier of the virtual server for receipt by the client device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2018
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Khary J. Alexander, Utz Bacher, Reinhard T. Buendgen, Patrick J. Callaghan, John C. Dayka, Thomas B. Mathias, K. Paul Muller, James A. O'Connor, William J. Rooney, Kurt N. Schroeder, Peter G. Spera, Tiberiu Suto, Sean Swehla, Stefan Usenbinz, Craig R. Walters
  • Publication number: 20170171197
    Abstract: Technical solutions are described for securely deploying a shrouded virtual server. An example method includes sending, by a host manager, authentication information of a hosting system to a client device in response to a request from the client device. The \method also includes receiving a request to deploy a virtual server using a shrouded mode. The method also includes deploying a preconfigured hypervisor on the hosting system, where the preconfigured hypervisor is deployed in an immutable mode that disables changes to security settings of the preconfigured hypervisor. The method also includes deploying, by the preconfigured hypervisor, a preconfigured boot image as an instance of the virtual server on the preconfigured hypervisor. The method also includes sending, by the host manager, an identifier of the virtual server for receipt by the client device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 14, 2015
    Publication date: June 15, 2017
    Inventors: Khary J. Alexander, Utz Bacher, Reinhard T. Buendgen, Patrick J. Callaghan, John C. Dayka, Thomas B. Mathias, K. Paul Muller, James A. O'Connor, William J. Rooney, Kurt N. Schroeder, Peter G. Spera, Tiberiu Suto, Sean Swehla, Stefan Usenbinz, Craig R. Walters