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Re: Cryptogram: Palladium Only for DRM

daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Ed Gerck)
Tue Sep 17 17:54:56 2002

Date: Tue, 17 Sep 2002 14:51:28 -0700
From: Ed Gerck <egerck@nma.com>
Cc: cryptography@wasabisystems.com


It may be useful to start off with the observation that Palladium will not be
the answer for a platform that *the user* can trust.  However, Palladium
should raise awareness on the issue of what a user can trust, and what not.
Since a controling element has to lie outside the controled system, the solution
for a trustworthy system is indeed an independent module with processing
capability -- but which module the user should be able to control..

This may be a good, timely opening for a solution  in terms of a "write code"
approach, where an open source trustworthy (as opposed to trusted)
secure execution module TSEM (e.g., based on a JVM with permission
and access management) could be developed and -- possibly -- burned on a
chip set for a low cost system. The TSEM would require user-defined
signatures to define what is trustworthy to *the user*, which would set a higher
bar for security when compared with someone else defining what is
trustworthy to the user.  The TSEM could be made tamper-evident, too.

Note: This would not be in competition with NCipher's SEE, because NCipher's
product is for the high-end market and involves commercial warranties,
but NCipher's SEE module is IMO a good example.

Comments?

Ed Gerck




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