USB FLASH DRIVE-ACTIVATED ELECTRONIC SAFE

A Research Project Presented to the Faculty of the College of Engineering Electronics and Communications Engineering Department Technological University of the Philippines Visayas

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Electronics and Communications Engineering

By Carbos, Geizel Mae Y. Dobrea, Errol J. Exaltado, Nico L. Madrigal, Rhea-Ann I. Morales, Lanie Rose S. Santarin, Frank Mari C.

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION This chapter presents the background, objectives, and scope and limitations of the study. Background of the Study Rooting from the early ages, people acquire precious belongings. Wooden chests were used to store linens, ceramics and jewelries. On the later years, chests were made from metal which makes them a lot safer and harder to crack. With the advancement of technology, security vaults were manufactured with electronic means of opening them. An electronic safe is used in homes and commercial establishments to keep cash, documents, jewelry, and a variety of other things safe. Increasingly whether at home or when travelling, we tend to carry expensive electronic gadgets. These small productivity tools hold some of our most trusted data. Beyond the cost of the equipment itself, the data itself is extremely valuable. It can even be used against us if it falls in the wrong hands. For this reason, many people today look for electronic safes in their offices, homes and hotel rooms. They need a way to secure the belongings. Most burglary-rated safes are equipped with standard mechanical combination locks. This type of lock, with the traditional numbered dial, is familiar to almost everyone. Simple and reliable, this type of lock has been used on safes for over one hundred years. The mechanical combination lock uses either a three number or four number combination that must be "dialed-in" before the safe door can be opened. In recent years, a new type of lock, called an "electronic safe lock", has been developed for use on safes and vaults. The electronic safe lock uses a programmable electronic circuit in addition to mechanical components to control the safe locking mechanism. The use of a programmable circuit gives the electronic safe lock the ability to provide a large number of features not available in the traditional mechanical safe lock. These features include: The ability to provide each user of the safe with a different combination. If an employee who has a combination to the safe leaves the company, only his combination needs to be changed - no need to change the combination of the other users. Combinations can be quickly changed by the owner or manager of the facility - no need to call in a locksmith to change the combination. Specific combinations can be programmed to only work on certain days and at certain times. For example, an employee who worked during the day could be

given a combination that would only open the safe during day shift - her combination wouldn't work during night shift. The lock can be programmed to provide a time-delay period between the time when the combination is entered and the time when the safe unlocks. This is commonly done to discourage robberies. The lock can be programmed to require two separate combinations be entered in order to open the safe. This is useful when your company policy requires that two people be present any time that the safe is opened.

Electronic safe locks are designed as "drop-in" replacements for mechanical safe locks. This means that most existing safes can be equipped with electronic safe locks without requiring that major modifications be made to the safe. Extensive effort has been put into the design of electronic safe locks so that they are just as reliable as their mechanical counterparts. The researchers recognize these efforts and therefore decided to develop a system to provide additional security to existing electronic safes. The researchers know that lock manipulation is done excessively by skilled robbers by just deciphering passcodes. Thus, we integrated a new way of accessing a security safe which by utilizing the USB flash drive. It is not the physical feature of the flash drive that would open the safe. There is a certain file, a HEX file preferably, inside the owners USB flash drive which a microcontroller would seek and send a signal to another microcontroller activating the keypad. If the required HEX file was present on the USB flash drive and captured, the keypad is then activated. The owner will then input his/her passcode and finally open the vault. Objectives of the Study General Objective: The main goal of the study is to integrate and interface a USB flash drive to a microcontroller. The study specifically aims: 1. To design an upgraded security system for vaults that is hard to crack. 2. To construct a security system that is suitable and with simplicity on its concept of operation. 3. To utilize more of the usage of USB flash drives. 4. To evaluate observations, results, feedbacks, efficiency of the security system being introduced.

Scope and Limitations of the Study: The study mainly focuses on keeping valuables safe inside a security vault, by means of the USB flash drive for a better safekeeping. Moreover, the study is limited on the modification of the accessing system of a security vault, other features of the equipment is not included in the design.

CHAPTER II CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK This chapter presents the framework of the study, the part of the study where it is founded and justified. Review of Related Literature and Studies According to Wikipedia, a safe (also called strongbox, coffer or kist) is a secure lockable box used for securing valuable objects against theft or damage. A safe is usually a hollow cuboid or cylinder, with one face removable or hinged to form a door. The body and door may be cast from metal (such as steel) or formed out of plastic through blow molding. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe) In 1991, the company developed and provided electronic safes to 5-star hotels. The company soon emerged as a pioneer in the field of security appliance and over time, expanded its product base to meet the needs of a varied customer base. The electronic safe product line includes burglar safes for residences and high quality, sophisticated fire retardant safes for the offices and commercial application. In 1997, the company upgraded its production facilities and shifted its focus entirely to security and safety products under the name Dishatek. (http://dishatek.tradeindia.com/) A USB flash drive is a data storage device that consists of flash memory with an integrated Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface. USB flash drives are typically removable and rewritable, and physically much smaller than a floppy disk. USB Flash drives use the USB mass storage standard, supported natively by modern operating systems such as Linux, Mac OS X, Windows, and other Unix-like systems. USB drives with USB 2.0 support can store more data and transfer faster than a much larger optical disc drives like CD-RW or DVD-RW drives and can be read by many other systems such as the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, DVD players and in some upcoming mobile smartphones. Nothing moves mechanically in a flash drive; the term drive persists because computers read and write flash-drive data using the same system commands as for a mechanical disk drive, with the storage appearing to the computer operating system and user interface as just another drive. Flash drives are very robust mechanically. A flash drive consists of a small printed circuit board carrying the circuit elements and a USB connector, insulated electrically and protected inside a plastic, metal, or rubberized case which can be carried in a pocket or on a key chain, for example. The USB connector may be protected by a removable cap or by retracting into the body of the drive, although it is not likely to be damaged if unprotected. Most flash drives use a

standard type-A USB connection allowing plugging into a port on a personal computer, but drives for other interfaces also exist. USB flash drives draw power from the computer via external USB connection. Some devices combine the functionality of a digital audio player with USB flash storage; they require a battery only when used to play music. There are currently four entities who lay claim to inventing the USB flash drive: Dov Moran of M-Systems, Pua Khein Seng of Phison Electronics, Trek Technology, and Netac Technology. Both Trek Technology and Netac Technology have tried to protect their patent claims. Trek won a Singaporean suit, but a court in the United Kingdom revoked one of Trek's UK patents. While Netac Technology has brought lawsuits against PNY Technologies, Lenovo, aigo, Sony, and Taiwan's Acer and Tai Guen Enterprise Co, most companies that manufacture USB flash drives do so without regard for Trek and Netac's patents. Pua Khein-Seng from Malaysia claims to have incorporated the world's first single chip USB flash controller. He is currently the CEO of Phison Electronics Corp based in Taiwan. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_flash_drive) EEPROM (also written E2PROM and pronounced "e-e-prom," "double-e prom," "e-squared," or simply "e-prom") stands for Electrically Erasable Programmable ReadOnly Memory and is a type of non-volatile memory used in computers and other electronic devices to store small amounts of data that must be saved when power is removed, e.g., calibration tables or device configuration. When larger amounts of static data are to be stored (such as in USB flash drives) a specific type of EEPROM such as flash memory is more economical than traditional EEPROM devices. EEPROMs are realized as arrays of floating-gate transistors. EEPROM is user-modifiable read-only memory (ROM) that can be erased and reprogrammed (written to) repeatedly through the application of higher than normal electrical voltage generated externally or internally in the case of modern EEPROMs. EPROM usually must be removed from the device for erasing and programming, whereas EEPROMs can be programmed and erased in circuit. Originally, EEPROMs were limited to single byte operations which made them slower, but modern EEPROMs allow multibyte page operations. It also has a limited life - that is, the number of times it could be reprogrammed was limited to tens or hundreds of thousands of times. That limitation has been extended to a million write operations in modern EEPROMs. In an EEPROM that is frequently reprogrammed while the computer is in use, the life of the EEPROM can be an important design consideration. It is for this reason that EEPROMs were used for configuration information, rather than random access memory. In 1978, George Perlegos at Intel developed the Intel 2816, which was built on earlier EPROM technology, but used a thin gate oxide layer so that the chip could erase

its own bits without requiring a UV source. Perlegos and others later left Intel to form Seeq Technology, which used on-device charge pumps to supply the high voltages necessary for programming EEPROMs. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EEPROM) Auto Westune had mentioned that the study of safes and vaults is actually a specialty within the field of locksmithing. Locksmiths who specialize in safe work may spend a decade or more perfecting their craft, and often do no other kinds of locksmithing work. These professionals usually prefer to be called safe technicians instead of locksmiths. Safe technicians even have their own associationthe Safe and Vault Technicians Association, headquartered in Dallas, Texas. There are two main reasons why safe work is its own specialty: the complexity of safe and vault locking mechanisms, especially the combination lock characteristic to both; and the vast array of safe makes and models still in use. Even though safe work is a specialty field, many professional locksmiths offer some safe services, including simple repairs, cleaning, and combination changes. To perform these services, a locksmith must have a working knowledge of safe construction, operation, and combination lock theory. Banks and other related institutions sometimes contract with independent locksmiths to service, repair, and rekey safe deposit boxes, and to open locked safe deposit boxes when necessary. (http://nelocksmithsupplies.co.uk) Manu Mohan, et al., in their study Design of USB Based Data Acquisition System, mentioned that a Data Acquisition System (DAQ) compatible for Universal Serial Bus (USB) of a PC has been designed and the technique is described. The system is built around PIC18F4550 microcontroller. The DAQ conforms to USB Test and Measurement Class (USBTMC) specification, which supports speed up to 12Mbps (Full Speed). PICMicro microcontroller firmware that performs the enumeration, data acquisition and data transfer operations is developed. A Virtual Instrument using LabVIEW is created to provide necessary commands to the USB device and for an easy user interface for data acquisition. The functioning of the DAQ system has been tested in a typical temperature monitoring application. In Cyber-Arks website, they have developed Cyber-Ark's Enterprise Password Vault, a Texas-based company with billions in annual revenue was able to secure, manage and report on thousands of Privileged User Passwords across more than 300 Oracle databases. With billions in annual revenues, one Texas-based company also had a large challenge in terms of updating the Privileged Passwords on all of its Oracle databases. The organization has massive operations that require hundreds of Oracle databases, a solution which comes with 31 pre-defined account, including SYS, SYSTEM, DBSNMP, CTXSYS, MDSYS, WMSYS, and XDB. Combine that with the fact that the company had eight database administrators managing more than 300 Oracle databases, and the result was more than 9,000 Privileged Passwords for Oracle alone.

"Of course, we had to regularly change the Privileged Passwords for these powerful systems," said the IT executive. "However, manually changing thousands of passwords across hundreds of databases was simply impractical. In addition, when an employee is terminated, we would have to disable his or her ID on each individual database -- a highly time-consuming process. Sometimes IT departments try to get around this problem by having the entire database administrative team share the same generic Oracle ID. But our auditors saw that as a huge security risk; we had to know which Administrator logged into which ID, when and for how long." The company evaluated various options and chose to deploy Cyber-Ark's Enterprise Password Vault (EPV). This secure, centralized password repository provides multiple security layers for storing and sharing passwords in an enterprise environment. "We required that the chosen system would allow us to control, update and report on thousands of passwords across multiple networks," says the IT executive. "In terms of performance, Enterprise Password Vault was the only option that met our needs." Today, the company uses EPV as a centralized password repository which provides multiple security layers for storing and sharing passwords. Analogous to a bank vault, EPV is a safe haven for sensitive passwords and other information, regardless of overall network security, making it immune to loss, corruption, and exposure. (http://www.cyber-ark.com/digital-vault-products/pim-suite/enterprise-passwordvault/testimonials.asp)

Conceptual Model

INPUT Programming Circuit Analysis Systems Design Feedback Systems Digital Circuits and Techniques

PROCESS Planning Circuit Design for USB Decoder, Lock/Keypad, and PIC18F4550 Programmer Assembly of Mechanical and Electronic Parts Programming of PIC18F4550 MCU and Visual Basic Program for password (.HEX file type) generation Evaluation and Analysis

OUTPUT Developed Safety System Prototype Manuscripts and Documents

FIGURE 1. Conceptual Model of the Study

Operational Definition of Terms 1. USB (Universal Serial Bus) flash drive - is a data storage device that consists of flash memory with an integrated Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface. USB flash drives are typically removable and rewritable, and physically much smaller than a floppy disk. The development of high-speed serial data interfaces such as USB made semiconductor memory systems with serially accessed storage viable, and the simultaneous development of small, high-speed, low-power microprocessor systems allowed this to be incorporated into extremely compact systems. Serial access requires far fewer electrical connections for the memory chips than parallel access, which has simplified the manufacture of multigigabyte drives. In the study, it will be used as the added security feature of the electronic safe. 2. Demultiplexer or demux - a piece of equipment that takes a single signal carrying multiple payloads and splits it up into several streams. They are often used in telecommunications to carry signals over long distances. A demultiplexer is the opposite of a multiplexer. A multiplexer, or "mux," takes signals from many sources and puts them into a single signal. That signal is transmitted wherever it needs to go, then disassembled at the other end by a demultiplexer. In the study, it is one of the capability of PIC18F4550 to convert serial bits from USB flash drive to parallel bits compatible to LS7220 digital lock IC. 3. Keypad - a set of buttons arranged in a block or "pad" which usually bear digits, symbols and usually a complete set of alphabetical letters. If it mostly contains numbers then it can also be called a numeric keypad. Keypads are found on many alphanumeric keyboards and on other devices such as calculators, push-button telephones, combination locks, and digital door locks, which require mainly numeric input. In the study, this will be used as input to LS7220 and the determinant if the keyed-in password matches with the generated HEX password in the USB flash drive. 4. Relay - an electrically operated switch. Many relays use an electromagnet to operate a switching mechanism mechanically, but other operating principles are also used. Relays are used where it is necessary to control a circuit by a low-power signal (with complete electrical isolation between control and controlled circuits), or where several circuits must be controlled by one signal. The first relays were used in long distance telegraph circuits, repeating the signal coming in from one circuit and retransmitting it to another. Relays were used extensively in telephone exchanges and early computers to perform logical operations. In the study, it will be the locking mechanism of the electronic safe.

CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY This chapter illustrates the construction and the design/layout of the USB flash drive activated electronic safe. This section also includes the results of the evaluation filled in by the people who were made aware of the use of the research project. USB Predefined Electronic Keypad Digital Flash Flash USB Port Password Drive Lock Memory Safe (LS7220) Relay Decoder (PIC18F4550 ) Project Design and Materials

FIGURE 2. Proposed Block Diagram of USB Flash Drive Activated Electronic Safe The three main parts of the project were the USB flash drive, the electronic safe and the circuitries integrated on the safe.