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Proposal : Python Trusted Computing API

 

 

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abhiram.casina at gmail

Oct 18, 2009, 11:29 PM

Post #1 of 3 (411 views)
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Proposal : Python Trusted Computing API

Hi

Trusted Computing (TC) is a technology developed and promoted by the Trusted
Computing Group (TCG)[3]. So, basically the group came up with these chips
called TPM chips which are present on most motherboards nowadays. The main
purpose of it is to enhance security so that infected executables don't run.
It also provides memory curtaining such that cryptographic keys won't be
accessible and many other features. There was a criticism on this from the
FOSS community as well that it enables DRM. No wonder, it is being pushed by
Intel, Microsoft, AMD, etc.. But personally I think its a good idea from
security point of view.

So, currently there is an TSS (TCG Software Stack)[1] API written in C. And
TrustedJava[2] is a project which ported it to Java and is going to be
included in the standard API of Java soon. They have 2 versions of it. One
is a simple wrapper on top of the API and the other is a whole
implementation of the stack in Java.

My proposal is we create an API for it in python.
*Reason*: I am a developer in Umit and I think Python is a very good
platform for developing applications. So, why not create an API which helps
in developing secure applications?

I would love to learn more and provide you with any more information. Please
let me know what you guys think of it?

Thanks in advance

Cheers
Abhiram

[1]
http://www.trustedcomputinggroup.org/resources/tcg_software_stack_tss_specification
[2] http://trustedjava.sourceforge.net/index.php?item=jtss/about
[3] http://www.trustedcomputinggroup.org/


guido at python

Oct 19, 2009, 12:35 PM

Post #2 of 3 (375 views)
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Re: Proposal : Python Trusted Computing API [In reply to]

On Sun, Oct 18, 2009 at 11:29 PM, Abhiram Kasina
<abhiram.casina [at] gmail> wrote:
> Trusted Computing (TC) is a technology developed and promoted by the Trusted
> Computing Group (TCG)[3]. So, basically the group came up with these chips
> called TPM chips which are present on most motherboards nowadays. The main
> purpose of it is to enhance security so that infected executables don't run.
> It also provides memory curtaining such that cryptographic keys won't be
> accessible and many other features. There was a criticism on this from the
> FOSS community as well that it enables DRM. No wonder, it is being pushed by
> Intel, Microsoft, AMD, etc.. But personally I think its a good idea from
> security point of view.

Hm... Given that most infections these days are JavaScript based and
run in the browser, how does this provide any protection? I'm
presuming you're going to say that it doesn't but that there are other
use cases where it *does* provide protection; but most likely those
use cases are only relevant for Windows (since that's what most
attackers attack anyway).

> So, currently there is an TSS (TCG Software Stack)[1] API written in C. And
> TrustedJava[2] is a project which ported it to Java and is going to be
> included in the standard API of Java soon. They have 2 versions of it. One
> is a simple wrapper on top of the API and the other is a whole
> implementation of the stack in Java.

Since this intefaces with the hardware, doesn't it require some kind
of cooperation from the Linux kernel? And wouldn't it be better if
Python was never allowed access to any of the protected resources in
the first place?

> My proposal is we create an API for it in python.
> Reason: I am a developer in Umit

Where/what is Umit? (Google gives several meanings but it's unclear
which you might mean.)

> and I think Python is a very good platform
> for developing applications. So, why not create an API which helps in
> developing secure applications?

You'd first have to tell us more about the security model. What is a
"secure application" and what does it protect against? And how?

> I would love to learn more and provide you with any more information. Please
> let me know what you guys think of it?

This is better directed at python-ideas, so I've redirected this reply
there and Bcc'ed the python-dev list.

> Thanks in advance
>
> Cheers
> Abhiram
>
> [1]
> http://www.trustedcomputinggroup.org/resources/tcg_software_stack_tss_specification
> [2] http://trustedjava.sourceforge.net/index.php?item=jtss/about
> [3] http://www.trustedcomputinggroup.org/
>
> _______________________________________________
> Python-Dev mailing list
> Python-Dev [at] python
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-dev
> Unsubscribe:
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/options/python-dev/guido%40python.org
>
>



--
--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)
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ncoghlan at gmail

Oct 19, 2009, 1:18 PM

Post #3 of 3 (379 views)
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Re: Proposal : Python Trusted Computing API [In reply to]

Abhiram Kasina wrote:
> I would love to learn more and provide you with any more information.
> Please let me know what you guys think of it?

This is really an off-topic question for python-dev. This list is just
about developing the core interpreter and standard library - we have no
control over the APIs that people choose to develop and publish on top
of that.

If you want to develop such an API and put it up on PyPI, then go right
ahead. comp.lang.python (aka python-list) would be the place to ask for
interest from other developers.

Regards,
Nick.

--
Nick Coghlan | ncoghlan [at] gmail | Brisbane, Australia
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