Intel to include DRM in new Pentium 4 series processors

[Pete Chown]

Brian Gladman wrote:

> This [TCPA secure boxes] seems to me to be an incredibly stupid thing to allow on a machine that
> any owner wants to continue to trust.

What happens if one of the boxes gets 0wned?  For example, say I wrote 
some software that needed to run in a secure box, but the software 
itself was insecure.  Subsequently someone finds this out and takes over 
the boxes on different people's machines where my software was running.

At the moment, the more subtle break-ins are the most dangerous.  If a 
web site is defaced it can soon be put back.  If a subtle change was 
made to a company's accounting system, it may not be so simple.

We have various procedures to help identify when a break-in of the 
second type has occurred.  However, these become much more difficult 
when the hardware protects the malicious code.  Any of these boxes could 
contain a time-bomb, and there would be no way for the IT department to 
find out.

-- 
Pete