Re: TCPA FOR LINUX

From: Nico Kadel-Garcia (nkadel_at_verizon.net)
Date: 04/28/03 

Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2003 12:29:25 GMT

Sebastian Hans wrote:
> Nico Kadel-Garcia <nkadel@verizon.net> wrote:
>
>>Cedric Blancher wrote:
>>
>>>Dans sa prose, Sebastian Hans nous ecrivait :
>>
>>No, Palladium is wired into the motherboard, and eventually into the
>>CPU. The next logical step is to use it to authorize the boot loader and
>>the boot kernel. Voila, no booting Linux.
>
>
> No. TCPA is the hardware part, Palladium (or NGSCB (Next-Generation
> Secure Computing Base, as it's now called) is Microsoft's software
> component built upon the TCPA spec.
> When this distinction is no longer valid, that's when our problems will
> start.

Not according to Peter LaMacchia at Microsoft, who spoke on this and
included the hardware changes as part of Palladium. Since Palladium will
not operate without the added-on and eventually built-into-CPU hardware
bits, the distinction is not a strong one. Separating them is not
unreasonable: but the pushing of software integration into the chipset,
such as controlling boot loaders, seems an obvious desire by the largest
  OS publisher on the planet.

>>>I sure understand this point, and am _very_ pessimistic about Palladium or
>>>Passeport like stuff. On the other hand, I do think TCPA ca be a great
>>>feature for a _free_ OS like Linux.
>>
>>Depends on how it's done. If it climbs into bed with the hardware at
>>level 0 (given the Palladium push by Microsoft), it can block
>>"unauthorized" software from being run, including the boot loader or kernel.
>
>
> Level 0 is TCPA, not NGSCB.

Perhaps I misremembered that quote: "ring 0", maybe?

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