US Patent 9613208 Trusted security zone enhanced with trusted hardware drivers

An electronic device comprises a processor, a permissive sector, a trusted security zone that is separate from the permissive sector, a hardware driver, a first trusted application, stored in the trusted security zone, that is configured to invoke the hardware driver in response to activation instructions, and a second trusted application, stored in the trusted security zone, that when executed on the processor, configures the processor to: amass information about an uncompromised state of the hardware driver, store the information about the uncompromised state of the hardware driver in the trusted security zone, and compare, in response to receipt of activation instructions by the first trusted application, the information about the uncompromised state of the hardware driver with a current state of the hardware driver, and perform an action in response to a result of the comparison.