Microsoft’s Understatement of the Year
Sometimes corporations downplay the importance of important events because they find the implications embarrassing. Microsoft came out with the wishy-washy understatement of the year today in response to word of an Infineon TPM chip hack by Christopher Tarnovsky. The hack reportedly requires physical access to a computer, which should make it difficult to perform in most cases.
TPM stands for Trusted Platform Module. A TPM chip is used to provide hardware supported encryption capability to an electronic device. One application of such technology is adding support for multi-factor authentication, which essentially adds additional sets of qualifying data to access requirements such as a fingerprint or retina scan. Most systems require that you have an account granting access and that you prove that you actually own the account by supplying a password. A company seeking to increase their level of certainty during authentication can add another factor for example, something you must have with you in addition to something you know. A key card or fingerprint would be examples of something you have. The TPM chip is generally used to provide a higher level of confidence over the handling of such input. According to IDC, up to 100 million personal computers and servers use TPM chips.
This hack may affect many consumer devices like set-top boxes, game consoles, pay TV, and smart phones. Microsoft confirmed that its Xbox 360 uses Infineon chips to lock down unspecified components. Security experts said that the hack discovered may lead to the unlocking of satellite TV content and pirated Xbox 360 video games and third-party controllers, to which Microsoft fired off this golden nugget: “unauthorized accessories that circumvent security protocols are not certified to meet our safety and compliance standards.”
Uh…yea, a bit obvious perhaps. I think the PR guys who wrote that statement are the same ones who are posting this consumer warning in airports: “Igniting underwear bomb may expose crotch to excess heat.”
