Wave Systems Corp. (fka WAVXQ)

[Fullmoon]

Government awareness of TPMs increasing??

From the FDIC; check out section 3:

http://www.fdic.gov/consumers/consumer/idtheftstudysupp/toc.html

Trusted Platform Module (TPM) Chip
What is it and how does it work?
The Trusted Platform Module (TPM) uses an embedded chip to securely store passwords, digital certificates, and encryption keys for PCs. This hardware-based system is designed to verify the authenticity of both the user and the device. The TPM acts as a virtual vault and uses PKI to decrypt, sign, encrypt, and verify both the machine and the application software. The system is designed so that only trusted applications that meet all integrity checks would be permitted. But since all checks and authentications will be performed automatically for the user, the login process will not be expanded or complicated in any way.

Capabilities
The tamper-resistant chip holds keys and certificates associated with the chip and the resident hardware device. The TPM verifies the connected device's integrity at boot-up, and the verification results in a chain of trust between machines. This process protects files from access by unauthorized applications or users. The two most commonly mentioned disadvantages of the TPM are its failure to recognize unlicensed or unrelated software (unrelated to the OS being used) and the cost of converting to another application once a product has been used for any length of time.

General Requirements
Although these chips are being installed on many PCs now distributed by major manufacturers, the chips are disabled. The concept holds promise, but operating system and application support is not wide spread. Plans call for future versions of existing operating systems to begin supporting TPM services