Abstract:
Imagine the world of computing, which is free of hacking, no security breaches, no Spam mails, no worms, no viruses, no crashing of systems any more. This was the distant dream of the application developers and true lovers of computers. But this is going to be possible in the nearby future and making it possible is TCPA.
TCPA (Trusted Computing Platform Alliance) is a joint effort by the most important computer and telecommunications companies in the world to radically change the idea of secure computing and the architecture of PC. TCPA is an union of some of the most important big players like INTEL, IBM, MICROSOFT, HP, SONY, another 150 more big companies, aimed to create a common platform dedicated to the "growing of user's trust" on information security. By looking at this huge quantity of companies - some of them, which are the main semiconductor manufacturers in the world, it is something really very serious.
All the security systems up to now run as just application programs. But the new concept is making security hardwired into the computer. That is, it is not possible to break the security of the system unless you are physically present. The TCPA’s platform provides many features like secure bootstrapping, platform identification, hardware-protected memory etc. To make such a platform TCPA specification has made changes to the basic architecture of the PC. Several new features have been introduced such as TPM chip, CRTM (trusted bios), protected memory etc.
This paper presents a technical analysis of the TCPA platform and the changes it made to the PC architecture. It also presents a detailed report on the much-discussed TPM chip and its important features. Finally an analysis of what could be the effect on TCPA on computer and entertainment industry is given.
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