Dartmouth Project Combines Linux With TCPA

SiliconEntity writes "A new project from Dartmouth College demonstrates significant advances in combining Linux with TCPA. The software turns a Linux PC into a 'virtual secure coprocessor', which is able to check that none of its software is compromised and even (in a future version) prove its integrity to a remote system. Full GPL source code is available for the 2.4 kernel. This work is separate from the earlier IBM research which also combined Linux with TCPA, with the new project apparently more complete and with a road map towards a very functional Linux based trusted computing system. This could be an important technology for Linux to challenge Microsoft as it pushes forward with NGSCB (aka Palladium)."

Comments

Re:Sweet

[advocate_one]

I think you'll find Linux will have it well before MSFT does... and it'll work... and it won't require special hardware either. And you'll be able to double check the source code instead of having to take it on trust...

The source code

[OpenSourcerer]

>Full GPL source code is available for the 2.4 kernel

Please make sure that all the efforts are undertaken to remove any references to the construct 'main()' as it will infringe on SCO copyrights

Re:The source code

[kasperd]

main() as it will infringe on SCO copyrights

Luckily no important part of Linux uses that construct. It is mentioned a few times in the documentation and comments, but we can remove that without breaking anything. (Hint: Linux is a kernel, not a program.)

Not compatible with eachother ?

[MoonFog]

From the PDF :
The exact relation between TCPA and the former Palladium is not clear; one suspects that at some point in the TCPA design process, Microsoft decided to withdraw and build their own variant.
This probably means the two technologies will not be compatible with eachother, files created under one will not be able to be opened under the other.

Re:Sweet

[advocate_one]

and it won't require special hardware either

correction... just managed to get into the site... it will require a "Trusted Computing Module" on the motherboard.

Re:Sweet

[MoonFog]

The TCPA is a comitee and is not something that belongs to Microsoft, although they are part of this comitee. IBM are also working on a TCPA technology. Palladium, or whatever it is called now, is perhaps the most "famous", but definately not the only one.

Don't like pdfs? Here's the TCPA paper in HTML

[flopsy mopsalon]

http://216.239.33.104/search?q=cache:nZrXhIU65ocJ: www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~sws/papers/msmw03.pdf:&hl=en &ie=UTF-8

Oooh! Verifiable integrity and an encrypted FS.

[Read Icculus]

Sounds like just the thing I need. That hacked together script that I currently use to md5sum all my important system binaries + files and verify them against the Known Goods database every 2 minutes is going out the window along with chkrootkit just as soon as I can go over every LOC with an STM and run this fine piece of software. Thanks be to you my fellow linux-users, I have finally found people who wear more layers of foil on their heads than I.

Difference between Palladium and TCPA

[kompiluj]

The difference between Palladium and TCPA (Trusted Computing Platform Architecture) may be not obvious at the technological level but it is very simple - TCPA aims at integrity of kernel and system components - to assure you that your system can be trusted. It is easy to achieve with open software, because the system must defend itself from attacs from outside. Palladium, on the other hand, uses similar technology to make sure that the user does not do anything else than what is allowed by content owners. In that case software openness is impossible - otherwise you could do some harm to their system - attacking from inside...

So similar architecture from technical point of view - but different aims yield different results.

Re:Difference between Palladium and TCPA

[hanssprudel]

Not true at all. DRM and other user control systems only need to be closed when they are software based, because otherwise people can change the programs to remove the user hostile code.

The difference between Palladium and TCPA is really that while Palladium is a whole system for a building user hostile computers, TCPA is just an enabler.

What TCPA does is sign a hash of the OS that is loaded with an "endorsement key", embedded in the TCPA by the vendor and unaccessible to the user. Thus the TCPA chip is a able to do two things: it can verify to an outside source (that trusts the vendor) that the machine is a running a specific operating system (ie one that supports DRM and thus can be "trusted"), and it can encrypt data from one operating system so that another operating system cannot decrypt it.

TCPA provides everything that is needed at the hardware level to write any user hostile system on top of it, because the successive verification of signatures prevents any tampering with the code (even if the OS is open sourced). Palladium could be implemented with TCPA as it's only hardware aspect.

Thus, the argument that is sometimes seen here that TCPA would prevent the computer from booting Linux or any other operating system is false (incorrect scare tactics against these systems are unfortunate, they do more harm then good). What TCPA will do, is enable sites on the Internet to not allow you to read the data they give out, unless you are running an operating system that is user hostile and DRM friendly (and not in the "this site doesn't support mozilla" fashion, which can always be hacked around, but in a cryptologically safe fashion).

Re:Difference between Palladium and TCPA

[hanssprudel]

True .. but tell me:
1) Of what use is a Linux system, if no content can be decrypted on it?

Not much.

2) Will content-providers make content available to versions of Linux which can't be "trusted"?

Undoubtably not. But what format they release the data in is their concern.

It is important to remember that the only political issue here is fighting laws against compulsary DRM and laws against circumventing it where it exists. We should not fall into the whiner trap of trying to claim that we are somehow entitled to "content" in open formats. We are not.

The manner in which we should fight DRM is to explain to be people why they should not accept it. (And we need to start here on Slashdot - look at how many Slashdotters laud iTunes).

3) If you make a "trusted" version of Linux, will it then be modifiable by the user (say, a new kernel-patch)?

It will be modifiable of course, but then you are back to 1).

4) Of what use are Open Source advantages, if you cannot use them?

Not much.

5) Is this a threat to the Open Source development model?

Definitely.

Re:Difference between Palladium and TCPA

[sjames]

Like many things, TCPA is a neutral technology. If the TCPA just sits on the board unused, you'd never know it's there at all. With Palladium, your system will be actively user hostile and RIAA/MPAA/MS friendly.

TCPA in itself won't prevent booting Linux. The fear is that a BIOS could then be written that won't load an OS that isn't signed by Bill Gates. TCPA merely enables that non-functionality. In addition, it is entirely possible to have a CPU come up in crippled mode until it validates the BIOS against the TCPA so that an unsigned BIOS won't run either. That is the fear, a total lock-down.

On the other hand, if the user has the signing key (I say user, since in reality, whoever has the signing key is the owner), TCPA permits (but does not assure) user friendly, outsider hostile strong system security.

The problem is that we are all aware that certain corporations in the U.S. would happily torture all of their customers to death if it was shown that after all of the lawsuits are settled, they make an extra $0.10 over the next 5 years than they would otherwise. They will be more than happy to build a user hostile system and lease it to their customers if they can find a way to kill off the competition.

Even if the lease is called a sale, I maintain that it's in reality a lifetime lease since, as I said, whoever has the signing key is the real owner of the system.

One possible roadblock to that would be to get the above paragraph enshrined in law. Not only would that force vendors to be more honest in their sales of Palladium enabled systems, it would place a nice large tax burden on a corporate holder of the signing key since they would be forced to acknowledge that they actually own all that hardware out there. More likely, it would kill the whole thing since under that law, hardware vendors would have to treat the transaction as a gift to MS and themselves as a lease broker for MS.

Not the right idea...

[hanssprudel]

We want to fight Palladium by fighting acceptance of the idea that the computer should control the user and how he can access the data on his own machine, NOT by developing something functionally equivalent that happens to run under Linux.

Building a DRM system of our own, even if it is open and standards based, just strengthens the paradigm that will leed to an Internet where no data can be accessed as plaintext, applications that are allowed read data have to be accepted and certified by the media industry, and computers exist no longer to enable, but to control, their users.

Please protest against Palladium, TCPA, and all the other DRM proposals by refusing to have anything to do with them: not by strengthening their hand.

(And before somebody replies that TCPA isn't about DRM: Bullshit! Look up what an "endorsement key" is in the TCPA vocabulary.)

Re:Not the right idea...

[amcguinn]

Unfortunately, this kind of thing is valuable in some specialised areas. For high security systems, you want to know that only certain approved code can run.

What we care about is the preservation of general-purpose computers controlled by the user. If we aim to ensure that all computers are controlled only by the user, we will fail, and fail badly, because having, say, a firewall that cannot run introduced code is something so useful that we will not be able to prevent it.

I have hope: firstly, the overhead of trying to deploy this over a large office PC system (the main buyer of general-purpose PCs), will be too high for the benefits.

Secondly, the value of a general-purpose computer that will easily run new software is so high even for the ordinary home user that they will not be entirely replaced by DRM-enabled home entertainment consoles.

It is possible (but unlikely) that this infrastructure will eventually reach the **AA goal of preventing copying of their products. I can live with that provided that our ability to write software for our own computers isn't collateral damage.

Re:Not the right idea...

[hanssprudel]

The specialized areas thing just doesn't hold up. I have yet to see a single example of this that couldn't be solved by current hardware. A lot of people talk about company employees: but few employees have root on their computers anyways, so what is the point with the TCPA chip?

I'm at work right now, and since my local workstation is a Sun Ray I don't even have physical access data in ways that the operating system and application will not allow me (since they all run on a server somewhere). Why would TCPA be necessary to control what I did with my employers documents, instead of just software?

Even IBM admits that TCPA chips can be circumvented by hardware hacks (expect modchips to start appearing), so it can not be used to secure valuable information. The only logical purpose for this technology is to use it on home users, where access to mod chips is limited by laws like the DMCA.

It is possible (but unlikely) that this infrastructure will eventually reach the **AA goal of preventing copying of their products. I can live with that provided that our ability to write software for our own computers isn't collateral damage.

It is not the ability to write our own software that we will be sacrificing, it is the ability to use that software to communicate with the world. Once the TCPA infrastructure is there, the temptation to use it will be to strong to resist:

- eBay will be able to lock out all but some verified list of applications from accessing auction data, so that application to raise bids at the last minute can't be used.

- Microsoft recently kicked off other application from their IM system for "security reasons". As it stands now, this can be hacked around, do you think they'll hestitate to use TCPA to make that impossible? You think AOL are any different.

- Websites will be able to lock out browsers that can block pop-up ads, or that allow cookies to be cleared, or that lie about themselves in the User-Agent string.

- Games will be able to lock out modified versions.

- Given the common confusion that TCPA is about "security", how long do think it will be until your bank starts requiring it?

I could go on and on. The acceptance of TCPA spells the end of the open Internet, and the beginning of a closed network, where all but a few applications are locked out.

I know what I'll do. Whatever it comes to, I will not have a part of this, and I will simply refuse to accept having a computer that is hostile toward me. The reason I argue this so vehemently is because I hope it won't be lonely out here...

Re:Not the right idea...

[bruthasj]

Question: Do you currently protest GPG signatures and encryption algorithms? Where do you draw the line between what *you* want to encrypt/control and what *you* want *others* to encrypt/control? Or do you want to pull an RMS and have no passwords to protect your systems, no security to lock your documents that you created and no rights to control stuff that you created? Shouldn't we let people have the right to handle guns and the right to handle encryption/document rights/system verification in anyway shape or form they please? Whether that be individuals, groups, churches, cults, governments, corporations, criminals, gangs, ACLU, EPA, Green Peace or whoever else!

Everything has an avenue of abuse, but that does not mean scrapping the whole thing because it's got a hole for possible misuse. I mean, look at another case in point: P2P networks. Do we sue the thing out of existence? Or do we fix the violators? What are the definitions of violators?

It's all nice and rosy to flat out and protest something that's "unknown", but the fact is the technology is here and big players are pushing for its existence. Unbelievers in the technology will always be a small ragtag of protestors holding up placards in front of large corporation buildings towering the skies of Redmond, WA.

Don't get me wrong, I hate Windows and I'm a Linux zealot, but I just cannot take your protest position at this time. Sorry.

Trustworthy computing

[sneakybilly]

I love this bit from the microsoft ngscb pagen "Data can be protected with a secure pathway from the keyboard through the computer to the monitor screen, preventing it from being secretly intercepted or spied on" Yeah like this is a major security problem with current day computing. I've always wondered if my information is secure between my keyboard and the monitor :)

Start Song..

[instanto]

Its the end of the world as we know it...

(I could have typed more, but then I would probably owe RIAA 150.000$ per slashdot user who read this)
(all 5 of them since I have a bad karma)

The owner of the PC does NOT own the master keys

[NZheretic]

The long term problem with IBM's model of the TCPA is exactly the same with that of clipper chip encryption, the owner of the PC does NOT control the attestation master keys. This leads to the same escrow agent model which is far to open to exploitation by The New American Corporate Soviet.

I'm sorry but totally avoid TCPA

[FeatureBug]

You cannot copy the keys inside TCPA hardware. I'll explain what this means (if you don't like reading about technicalities, just skip to the final paragraph)

Every time you buy a new PC with TCPA you will not be able to copy the old TCPA keys on your old PC to your new PC. This means you will completely lose access to your videos and your music which you legally purchased and used on your old PC. Effectively you have to buy another set of keys to regain access to your videos and your music collections.

TCPA and other DRM technologies are being pushed by the publishing industry and hardware manufacturers like IBM who want to sell more of their hardware equipped with DRM to make it attractive to commercial content locked-down publications.

TCPA means LOCK-down, LOCK-out, LOCK-up enabler. Avoid getting anything with TCPA.