IBM fits PCs with new hardware-based security chip

The hardware is designed to vend off viruses and hackers

By Stacy Cowley

September 17, 2004 12:00 PM ET

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IDG News Service - IBM has begun using new security hardware from National Semiconductor Corp. in its desktop PCs in an effort to fend off viruses and hackers.

National Semiconductor's SafeKeeper Trusted I/O devices add to its existing chip design a "trusted platform module" (TPM), a microcontroller that stores passwords, digital certificates and encryption keys. The devices conform to the TPM specifications developed by the Trusted Computing Group, a two-year-old standards body for hardware-based security technologies backed by IBM, Intel Corp., Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co.

The idea behind hardware-based security is that information stored in a PC's firmware is less vulnerable to attack than data protected only by software. TPM-stored data can, for instance, be used to authenticate a computer on a network, providing identity information in a way that's more difficult to forge.

National Semiconductor's desktop SafeKeeper device is priced at $5 each for volume orders. Toward the end of the year, the company will release a notebook version expected to sell for $7.

IBM, which has used TPMs in its PCs for the past five years, said the devices are being used in ThinkCentre models featuring its IBM Embedded Security Subsystem.

Reprinted with permission from

IDG.net
Story copyright 2009 International Data Group. All rights reserved.

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