Messages in this thread | | | Date | Sat, 22 Jul 2000 13:29:51 -0700 | From | Karen Shaeffer <> | Subject | Re: Butting in.. (Was: scsi-destroyer.c to come...) |
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On Sat, Jul 22, 2000 at 02:49:24PM -0400, Mike A. Harris wrote: > On Sat, 22 Jul 2000, Khimenko Victor wrote: > > >This is all right. But you can SIGN firmware blob and hardware will just > >refuse to accept update with bad sign. How much it cost ? I have SmartCard > >from Oberthur here where such protection is implemented. This card cost less > >then 3$. Complete with CPU, memory, built-in DES (used for signature checking > >in TripleDES mode) and so on. Since IDE/ATAPI drive (or you modem) ALREADY have > >CPU, memory it'll add perhaps few CENTS to cost and will give you almost 100% > >protection. Do we really need to tolerate hardware with ability to destroy it > >with few simple commands just to save few CENTS per computer ? > > That would definitely be better than what we have now, however I > would still question the true security of it. DVD was cracked. > Mike A. Harris Linux advocate
Well, this is part of the solution. But, the other part is quite simple and I believe being widely implemented in current Flash chips. They contain boot block sectors that are *never* reprogrammed. Even if you have your Flash reprogrammed with trash, when you reboot, the system still comes up and has the *NONREPROGRAMMABLE* boot sector code--that actually facilitates the reprogramming of the programmable memory sectors on the chip. It's that simple. And all reprogrammable PROM, Flash, and SMROM *can* be designed to implement this.
So all this *noise* about the kernel needing major changes is simply not recognizing the reality that the hardware is defective. Newer systems are now addressing these *hardware* flaws. The kernel need not take responsibility for the inadequacy of the hardware industry's legacy systems. The capabilities patch is about all that makes sense here.
c, -- Karen Shaeffer Neuralscape; Santa Cruz, Ca. 95060 shaeffer@neuralscape.com http://www.neuralscape.com
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