SecureBlue: Crypto-on-a-Chip

IBM Research has announced a technology it claims is designed to increase the security of consumer products, medical devices, defense systems, and digital media. Codenamed "SecureBlue", the technology is a security architecture built into microprocessors. It protects the security of microprocessors as well as the security of an entire microprocessor-based device. Because it is based on secure hardware rather than software techniques, SecureBlue provides strong protection for secrets and strong defenses against reverse-engineering and tampering. SecureBlue can be used to protect the confidentiality of all the information on a device including documents, presentations, and software as well as the keys that are used for communications security or digital signatures.

Cryptography-based protection against unauthorized access is a security feature normally reserved for high-end computers, making it difficult for intruders to break into or corrupt electronic systems. By providing the overlaying on-chip security layer, SecureBlue removes a barrier to the widespread use of crypto-based strong protection. While encryption should be applied wherever data exists at any given time--whether being processed, stored, or transmitted over a network, traditionally, its use outside the datacenter has been costly and impractical because it requires a great deal of processing power to constantly encrypt and decrypt data.

Posted by Jon Erickson at 04:45 PM  Permalink