Wave Systems Corp. (fka WAVXQ)

[Smithereens]

How they attack TPMs...

So the Vbootkit that was out there to tackle windows 7 is said to be defeated by Bitlocker and the TPM;
http://www.infoworld.com/d/security-central/bitlocker-tpm-wont-defend-all-pcs-against-vbootkit-20-318

With VBootkit 2.0, once an attacker has taken control of the Windows 7 computer during the boot process they are able to get system-level access to the computer, the highest level possible. They can also remove user passwords to gain access to protected files and strip DRM (digital rights management) protection from multimedia files. The passwords can then be restored, hiding any evidence that it was compromised.

"There's no fix for this. It cannot be fixed. It's a design problem," Vipin Kumar said during his presentation last week, referring to Windows 7's assumption that the boot process is safe from attack.

In response, a Microsoft representative said Windows 7's support for Trusted Platform Module (TPM) and BitLocker Drive Encryption (BDE) means the attack is "void," downplaying the threat to users.

That assertion is partly correct. TPMs are microcontrollers that contain encryption keys and digital signatures, adding an extra level of security through hardware authentication of software files. BDE is a data-protection feature available in some versions of Windows Vista that works by encrypting data on a computer's hard disk. These are powerful protections that defend against bootkit attacks but they are not available on all computers.

"TPM and BitLocker (collectively) would stop VBootkit from working. But TPM is not available on consumer PCs -- most of the them -- and BitLocker is available only in high-end Vista editions," Nitin Kumar wrote in an e-mail.

Restricting BitLocker to high-end versions of Windows Vista, which cost more than other versions, is intentional. Microsoft segments Windows into different versions with varying prices to target different markets. Because corporate customers are willing to pay more for security features like BitLockers, these capabilities are not offered with less expensive versions of the operating system. That's a smart approach from a product marketing and sales standpoint, but it leaves millions of users without the same level of protection.

BitLocker will not be available on all versions of Windows 7, according to Microsoft's latest plans. It will be available as features of Windows 7 Enterprise and Windows 7 Ultimate, but will not be part of the other four versions of the operating system: Professional, Home Premium, Home Basic and Starter. That means computers with these flavors of Windows 7, which are likely to represent the bulk of Windows 7 users, will not be protected against VBootkit-like attacks.



Some of the other ideas for attacks have people that already bring them to the TCG to work on which is a good sign;

http://www.lsv.ens-cachan.fr/~steel/asa2/Ryan-08-TPM.pdf