get a grip on what TCPA is for

[John S. Denker]

bear wrote:
> 
> No tamper-reistant hardware can even start to compare
> with a simple BIOS change to keep the entire hard drive
> encrypted.  Without the proper passphrase on bootup, you
> can't even tell what operating system is installed, let
> alone install a trojan.  

If the hardware isn't tamper-resistant, the adversary 
can just put in a slightly-less simple BIOS that 
captures your passphrase the next time you use it.  At 
this point the game is pretty much over.  You've lost.

As a general rule:  If you don't have physical security,
you don't have security.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
The Cryptography Mailing List
Unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe cryptography" to majordomo at wasabisystems.com