The Future of Trusted Linux Computing

ttttt writes "MadPenguin.org tackles the idea of Trusted Computing in its latest column. According to author Matt Hartley, the idea of TC is quite reasonable; offering a locked-down environment offers several advantages to system administrators with possibly troublesome users. 'With the absence of proprietary code in the mix users will find themselves more inclined to trust their own administrators to make the best choices ... And so long as any controlled environment is left with checks and balances [like] the option for withdrawal should a school or business wish to opt out, then more power to those who want a closed off TC in an open source world." LWN.net has an older but slightly more balanced look at the TC approach.

Comments

If the owner controlls all the keys, its fine

[jonwil]

There is nothing wrong with hardware assisted security if the owner controls all the keys and nothing can touch the trusted hardware without the owner specifically installing it (i.e. logging in as root/administrator and changing things).

Trusted Computing is only bad if the owner of the hardware does not have control over the software on the machine, the hardware keys etc.

Re:But Linux is already trusted.

[MyLongNickName]

But Linux and most Linux programs are already more "trusted" then Windows can ever be. From being open source, how can you not trust it?

Did you even read the summary? Or were you just going for first post?

This is about locking down the workstation so that users can't monkey around. I do not care how well the code is written, a malicious user can create a security issue if he/she has the ability to do so.

Trusted Computing is by definition closed.

[Spy der Mann]

Or are the users getting their CPUs' source code and recompile them? Or at least call their LinCPUx fans to do it for them?

Trusted Computing requires trusting the CPU manufacturer in the first place. And in this world, where the telcos have disclosed our conversations to the govt without us finding out but several years later, can we really trust that the government hasn't pressured the CPU makers to add a backdoor here and there?

Trusted Computing is practically closed, and incompatible with the spirit of Open Source/Free Software. Ergo, Trusted Computing cannot be trusted. Sorry.

Open vs Closed Trusted Computing

[SiliconEntity]

Unfortunately there are several DIFFERENT, INCOMPATIBLE concepts being bandied about under the name Trusted Computing. This new "Trusted Computing Project" took on that name seemingly without being aware that there was substantial work already under way on a different concept with the same name.

Perhaps to try to remedy the confusion, we can distinguish between TC as proposed by the Trusted Computing Group and other forms of TC. The TCG is an industry consortium with Microsoft, Intel, HP etc., dating back several years, originally called TCPA. Their proposal has always been controversial but IMO misunderstood.

TCG's flavor of TC is fundamentally open. I would call it Open Trusted Computing, OTC. It does not lock down your computer or try to prevent anything from running. It most emphatically does NOT "only run signed code" despite what has been falsely claimed for years. What it does do is allow the computer to provide trustworthy, reliable reports about the software that is running. These reports (called "attestations") might indicate a hash of the software, or perhaps a key that signed the software, or perhaps other properties or characteristics of the software, such as that it is sandboxed. All these details are left up to the OS, and that part of the technology is still in development.

Open Trusted Computing runs any software you like, but gives the software the ability to make these attestations that are cryptographically signed by a hardware-protected key and which cannot be forged. Bogus software can't masquerade as something other than it is. Virus-infected software can't claim to be clean. Hacked software can't claim to be the original. You have trustworthy identification of software and/or its properties. This allows you to do many things that readers might consider either good or bad. You could vote online and the vote server could make sure your voting client wasn't infected. You can play online games and make sure the peers are not running cheat programs. And yes, the iTunes Music Store could make sure it was only downloading to a legitimate iTunes client that would follow the DRM rules. It's good and bad, but the point is that it is open and you can still use your computer for whatever you want.

This is in contrast to some other projects which may or may not call themselves TC but which are focused on locking down the computer and limiting what you can run. The most familiar example is cell phones. They're actually computers but you generally can't run whatever you want. The iPhone is the most recent controversial example. Now they are going to relax the rules but apparently it will still only run signed software. This new "Trusted Computing Project" is the same idea, it will limit what software can run. Rumors claim that the next version of Apple's OS X will also have some features along these lines, that code which is not signed may have to run in sandboxes and have restrictions.

This general approach I would call Closed Trusted Computing, CTC. It has many problematic aspects, most generally that the manufacturer and not the user decides which software to trust. Your system comes with a list of built-in keys that limit what software can be installed and run with full privileges. At best you can install more software but it is not a first-class citizen of your computer and runs with limitations. Closed Trusted Computing takes decisions out of your hands.

But Open Trusted Computing as defined by the TCG is different. It lets you run any software you want and makes all of its functionality equally available to anyone. P2P software, open-source software, anything can take full advantage of its functionality. You could even have a fully open-source DRM implementation that used OTC technology: DRM code that you could even compile and build yourself and use to download high-value content. You would not be able to steal content downloaded by software you had built yourself. And you could be sure there were no back doors,