From IBM's Watson Research, Global Security Analysis Lab . . .

IBM's Global Security Analysis Lab (GSAL) has done extensive analysis of the Trusted Computing Platform Alliance (TCPA) chip available on some IBM systems. We have the chip running under Linux, and have studied it extensively. In order to clarify a lot of misunderstanding about the chip, we are making available some helpful white papers and open source device drivers for Linux, so that interested people can test and use the chip in an open environment.

Available Downloads . . .

• Why TCPA — This white paper describes the goals of the TCPA chip, and shows how it can be used to protect a user's authentication keys and sensitive data against remote attacks.
• TCPA Misinformation Rebuttal — This white paper responds point by point to several papers and web pages which have criticized the TCPA chip based on misunderstandings and incorrect analysis.
• TCPA Device Driver for Linux — This package contains full source code for a Linux device driver for the TCPA chip, released under the GPL.

[Editor's note: the IBM TCPA security chip is included in the recently announced Linux PDA reference design.]

 
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