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IBM Hardwires Encryption Into Chips

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the it's-in-the-chip dept.

zenwarrior writes "Reported by CNET, a new chip technology termed Secure Blue by IBM will keep users' data encrypted and secured at virtually every moment on essentially anything in which the chip can be used. Data is even encrypted in RAM, leaving display for users' viewing as almost the last place it isn't encrypted. This has to be considered decidedly anti-Homeland Defense by the current administration. If so, when will we see it if ever?"

6 of 244 comments (clear)

  1. Clipper Chip??? by DAldredge · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Like the last adminstration would have liked this tech? Face it - neiter party in DC likes anything that takes power away from them.

  2. When will we see it, if ever? by magetoo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    My guess: In media center PCs in 3... 2... 1...

    1. Re:When will we see it, if ever? by frovingslosh · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yup, mod parent up. Some might call this anti-homeland defense (particularly if the childishly believe the feds can't get your data this way), but the reality is that it is a maror shove in the DRM direction. With DRM already in the SATA hard drives, this is another way to fence the user away from their data. And what happens when Windows does it's all too common trick of refusing to boot and let you at your existing files? Well just reinstall everything (from the CDs that the major OEMs like Dell no longer even bother to give you) and retype it, because you sure are not going to recover it any longer. This is called trusted computing.

      --
      I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
  3. Re:Pretty cool by c0l0 · · Score: 5, Funny
    From what I've heard the encryption scheme to be implemented by the "Secure Blue" chip is supposed to be based on a sophisticated algorithm called "Triple-ROT52", developed at an university in Australia. Neat stuff, indeed!
     
     

    Now let's lean back and see how long it takes for the Inquirer to pick this up...

    --
    :%s/Open Source/Free Software/g

    YTARY!
  4. No processor overhead. by Chas · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hey man. What's that encryption on that thing?

    Double ROT26.

    Woo. That's gonna be TOUGH to crack!

    --


    Chas - The one, the only.
    THANK GOD!!!
  5. Keys too or only algorithms? by quentin_quayle · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Apparently what they're putting in the chips is, at least, encryption/decryption routines. Aside from the obvious questions (what happens when you want to change algorithms?), the important question is whether they're including digital keys as well.

    The single factor that makes "trusted computing" evil is that there's a digital key (the "attestation" or "endorsement" key) baked into the TPM which the owner of the machine is prevented from accessing or changing. If all the keys were accessible to the owner, it would be a purely beneficial technology. With the anti-owner feature, it becomes an engine of DRM, censorship, and vendor lock-in on a vast scale, and at a fundamental level absolutely prevents security and privacy for the computer owner.

    So the question is which category this IBM tech falls into. And that in turn depends on whether digital keys will be baked into the processor, or whether it's only a set of routines that any software can use under the owner's control.