While most software and downloadable DRM protected audio/video content are using software based locks in an aim to prevent unauthorised duplication, they all have a common weakness in that software based measures is subject to hacking and other malicious attacks. Trusted Computing aims to overcome this issue using hardware based security measures. National Semiconductor Corp. has unveiled two hardware based devices that support the Trusted Computing Group (TCG) specifications and IBM have chosen this for their motherboards in ThinkCenter PC systems.
This TCG supported hardware is capable of securely storing passwords, digital certificates and encryption keys. By implementing security measures and secret data at the hardware level, they are less susceptible to attacks or hacking such as reverse engineering. Major software and hardware players are supporting TCG technology including Microsoft, IBM, HP, Sun Microsystems, Intel, AMD and many others.
Besides enhanced security for software, National Semiconductor is also working on Trusted Network Computing Base to allow only PCs with a certain level of 'Trust' to join a network using the technology.
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IBM Corp. officials have already chosen National's SafeKeeper Trusted Input/Output devices for the motherboards of ThinkCentre desktop systems, as part of the IBM Embedded Security Subsystem. National's devices combine embedded firmware with a Trusted Platform Module, a microcontroller that stores passwords, digital certificates and encryption keys. Such hardware-based security is considered much less susceptible to attacks than traditional approaches to security, and it is gaining increasing attention from officials struggling to harden their information technology protections. Read the full article here. More information at eWeek. |
Should more motherboard makers take on TCG based hardware, it will be interesting to see how they will market this as a useful feature rather than as a drawback. For example, TCG can be easily advertised as a feature to prevent attacks from malicious software, virus and Trojans as well as avoid data theft. However the same technology will likely be used to lockdown the PC to prevent software piracy as well as strengthen DRM measures in much the same way as DVD-Audio uses strong hardware based protection to prevent piracy.
This will be one technology to watch out for when choosing a new motherboard. For more information on Trusted Computing and the potential dangers behind it, check out this article.
Source: FCW.COM
