Software-enhanced trusted PG platform solves many of today's security challenges.
New advances in PC hardware and software dramatically increase IT security and address some of the most common computer security challenges facing enterprise and government IT managers today. A better kind of PC, called a "trusted personal computer," is now available from a wide range of OEMs. In fact, tens of millions have already shipped.
A trusted PC looks just like a regular PC, and the costs are comparable. A trusted PC, however, comes with an embedded security chip that works with specially developed secure software-a powerful combo that enables the strongest data protection and authentication capabilities for your network.
The computer industry is now offering a variety of PCs and desktop boards equipped with this security chip, called a trusted platform module (TPM). Some of the better known models with this capability are made by Dell, IBM, HP, Intel and Fujitsu.
Specifications for the TPM have been developed and promoted by an industry standards organization called the Trusted Computing Group (TCG). Industry analysts estimate TPM security chips may be in nearly all computers by the end of the decade.
TPM security chips are nice, but they are not much use without accompanying software. Independent software vendors are addressing this issue by developing industry-standard security software optimized for the TPM security chip. The TPM security chip and associated software are designed to fit easily into your existing Microsoft-compatible infrastructure.
TPM software provides both client and server solutions that deliver enhanced data protection and enable strong authentication for access control and the ability to manage credentials created by the hardware. It provides data protection and strong authentication through the use of the TPM, which securely stores the critical keys that software uses to protect information.
On the server side, solutions provide the infrastructure to allow IT managers to securely store and migrate protected keys from one TPM-enabled system to another, according to security policies defined by the organization. Together, these client and server solutions enable a hardware-protected environment for access to networks, credentials and data.
The latest client applications provide a complete set of secure services. Most work with the Microsoft Office environment and are engineered to secure a variety of PC-related productivity tasks.
In enabling the trusted platform, users should make sure the software they choose provides a range of strong authentication capabilities involving multifactor authentication, and supports inclusion of passwords and biometrics. Authentication requirements to the machine, and thus to the network, are rooted in hardware, enhancing the trust of each user's access to information and services.
Passwords continue to be the most common form of authentication because of their ease of use. Reliance on static, reusable passwords, however, has proven to be a key vulnerability point. Password-management solutions should deal with both password protection and password replacement.
For password protection, TPM-leveraging software simplifies the sign-on process to Web sites and applications by using automated functions to save and supply practical or complex passwords. Passwords are protected by the TPM, yielding the security required when passwords alone are the sole method of authentication.
For password replacement, TPM-leveraging secure software controls access to TPM-secured applications by offering a master password replacement for individual TPM key passwords. The master password can be combined with a fingerprint, resulting in convenient two- factor authentication. For secure applications, the TPM functions as a third factor.
For remote access through virtual private networks, trusted PC software allows the TPM security chip to act as a token to replace, or exist alongside, the existing portable token solutions for remote access-at a fraction of the cost.
For more information from Wave Systems: www.rsleads.com/507cn- 258
TPM security chips are nice, but they are not much use without accompanying software.
Steven Sprague is president and CEO of Wave Systems Corp., based in Lee, Mass. A pioneer of the trusted PC movement, he has spoken and presented at more than 50 industry events. Send comments for publication to guest@comnews.com.
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