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TP-Link Begins Lockdown of Firmware In Response To FCC
An anonymous reader writes: In response to an FCC rule that requires manufacturers to lock down computing devices (routers, PCs, phones) to prevent modification if they have a "modular wireless radio," TP-Link has begun locking down its routers to prevent firmware not signed by TP-Link from being installed. This essentially prevents open source OSs (OpenWRT, for example) from being used on routers. TP-Link may not be a prestige brand, exactly, but the company makes a lot of routers suitable for installing third-party firmware, precisely the sort of thing being locked down makes difficult if not impossible.
Secure Boot hasn't protected the device against the owner in a decade. That may have been part of the original intent but that still doesn't make it the case today. Secure boot ensures that every step of the boot process is cryptographically signed. At any point you can reliably get the certificate chain and decide whether you want to trust that system. Sure this could be problematic in the somebody may only trust systems running an OS where the signer of the OS is Microsoft. This is done on Android devices where some systems won't let you connect if you're not running the stock firmware as verified by the signing chain. The phone can be configured to either only load the OEM software or you can flip the switch to allow your own. I'd like to see these systems accept connections from devices using alternative firmware signed by other trusted sources, but the idea of trusting a device running some unsigned software - or signed by an unknown source - is insane. We've been doing it so long, it probably seems normal but this is a function of spending too much time in the asylum.