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ISCA
2005
IEEE

Architecture for Protecting Critical Secrets in Microprocessors

14 years 5 months ago
Architecture for Protecting Critical Secrets in Microprocessors
We propose “secret-protected (SP)” architecture to enable secure and convenient protection of critical secrets for a given user in an on-line environment. Keys are examples of critical secrets, and key protection and management is a fundamental problem – often assumed but not solved – underlying the use of cryptographic protection of sensitive files, messages, data and programs. SP-processors contain a minimalist set of architectural features that can be built into a general-purpose microprocessor to provide protection of critical secrets and their computations, without expensive or inconvenient auxiliary hardware. SP-architecture also requires a trusted software module, a few modifications to the operating system, a secure I/O path to the user, and a secure installation process. Unique aspects of our architecture include: decoupling of user secrets from the devices, enabling users to securely access their keys from different networked computing devices; the use of symmetric m...
Ruby B. Lee, Peter C. S. Kwan, John Patrick McGreg
Added 25 Jun 2010
Updated 25 Jun 2010
Type Conference
Year 2005
Where ISCA
Authors Ruby B. Lee, Peter C. S. Kwan, John Patrick McGregor, Jeffrey S. Dwoskin, Zhenghong Wang
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