back to article Microsoft, Intel cook kit to secure firmware in servers and beyond

Microsoft's revealed it is working with Intel on a “cryptographic microcontroller” to secure its cloud servers and the many firmware-using components within. Redmond's named this effort “Project Cerberus” and says it is “a NIST 800-193 compliant hardware root of trust specifically designed to provide robust security for all …

  1. A Non e-mouse Silver badge

    CPU?

    Before you worry about device firmwares, you need to go further down the stack and fix the CPU.

    1. big_D Silver badge

      Re: CPU?

      Erm. that is fix the chipset / motherboard, not CPU...

  2. whitepines
    Go

    This looks like a direct copy of Raptor Engineering's FlexVer technology that was originally going to be part of the Talos systems: https://www.raptorengineering.com/TALOS/documentation/flexver_intro.pdf

    Will be interesting to see how this plays out!

  3. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Facepalm

      Re: What Is The Purpose - What Issue Are They Trying To Solve

      Maybe many of your questions would be answered if you read the article and provided links.

      Hint: It's part of the Open Compute Project.

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: What Is The Purpose - What Issue Are They Trying To Solve

          I did have a slight benefit, I'd read a much more clear article on another site.

          People forget MS is one of the largest Open source contributors out there. Granted much of it is for their own benefit, but that's no different to Google.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Back doors all the way down

    This recent set of discoveries about Intel chips very nicely complements Ken Thompson's famous insight about software back doors. http://scienceblogs.com/goodmath/2007/04/15/strange-loops-dennis-ritchie-a/

    It never seemed fair that software should be systemically insecure in such a fundamental, Goedelesque way, while hardware stood "unharmed upon the eternal rock".

    Now the balance has been redressed and all three components of every computer system are seen to be equally, and fundamentally, insecure: hardware, software, and wetware.

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