[Cryptography] ORWL - The First Open Source, Physically Secure Computer

[Perry E. Metzger]

On Mon, 29 Aug 2016 23:01:28 +0100 Ben Laurie <ben at links.org> wrote:
> >> https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/research/security/ctsrd/beri/ +
> >> https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/research/security/ctsrd/cheri/  
> >
> > Of course, BERI and CHERI are secure in a distinct sense -- they
> > are implementations of a capability architecture on top of the
> > more ordinary MIPS instruction set. They are not, however,
> > formally verified designs, and in that sense, are no more or less
> > likely to have bugs or back doors than any other soft core
> > design.  
> 
> I will agree that they are not _yet_ formally verified. However,
> that work is under way.

That would be quite the coup! I'm looking forward to the existence of
a formally verified architecture. Please do mention it here when it
happens. (That said, I wish this was on top of RISC-V or some similar
non-proprietary architecture, as MIPS has associated IP issues.
Still, I won't look a gift horse in the mouth!)

> > However, taking it as an entirely distinct topic from being able
> > to trust that one's hardware isn't malicious, I will note that the
> > BERI/CHERI design is a very interesting one, and I'm hoping this
> > research helps capability architectures make a comeback.  
> 
> I think it is already clear that the tide is turning.

I'm less sanguine, but it clearly would be a wonderful thing.

Perry
-- 
Perry E. Metzger		perry at piermont.com