Trusted Computing Group Enables Platform Integrity Measurement and Verification

Business Wire, Nov 20, 2006

Specifications Help Detect Rootkits and Facilitate Reporting of Integrity Information to Better Protect Systems, Data and Networks

PORTLAND, Ore. -- The Trusted Computing Group (TCG), an industry group of more than 140 members creating open industry specifications for computing security, today released a set of specifications to provide a foundation for platform integrity measurement and verification. Effectively measuring and verifying the state of the platform results in the assurance that the platform can protect its information. Platforms can include PCs, servers, mobile phones and virtually any computing device.

The new specifications, which are available today on the organization's website www.trustedcomputinggroup.org, augment the Trusted Platform Module (TPM), a core set of security functions defined by TCG members and widely used in virtually all enterprise PCs and many servers. These new specifications ensure that the state of the system in which a TPM is used is reported accurately and in a standard fashion. It's anticipated that services and products incorporating these specifications will go into development for availability in 2007.

"The availability of a common approach for assurance of platform integrity and measurement means that users and administrators are assured of accurate and consistent reporting of the platform's state, enabling effective deployment of applications such as network access control, managing patches, monitoring platform integrity, intrusion detection, support for forensics and others," noted TCG Infrastructure Work Group co-chairs Thomas Hardjono, security architect, SignaCert, and Ned Smith, security architect, Intel Corporation. "These specifications are the next step to completing the framework and capabilities of the trusted platform and essential to effective information security."

The new specifications include:

* The Integrity Management Architecture provides a common framework for defining, collecting and reporting information about the integrity of the hardware and software components of a trusted platform (one that has the TPM). Integrity information includes values in the TPM within a system, files on the system, in-memory images and others. What is measured is dependent on the use of the measurement. For example, in implementations of TCG's Trusted Network Connect (TNC) for network access control, the client trying to attach to the network might be measured to determine what patches and antivirus software it has loaded, or checked to see if it has changed since the last connection.

* The Platform Trust Services Interface specification defines a measurement agent to collect, measure and report the integrity information on the platform, which can be a PC, mobile phone, server or other device. This ability complements the Trusted Network Connect architecture by enabling an integrity check of the platform before it is connected to the network. This can help detect root kits when used in concert with boot integrity checking, and can identify infected or unauthorized clients.

* The Integrity Schema specification provides a common XML-based data format to facilitate information exchange within the Integrity Management Architecture and integrates with Platform Trust Services Interface specification. The schema specification covers the format for integrity data to be collected and reported; the format for representing reference measurement of known values; and the format for evaluating the results of platform integrity assessments including reporting of the TPM platform configuration registers (PCRs).

About TCG

TCG is an industry standards body formed to develop, define, and promote open standards for trusted computing and security technologies, including hardware building blocks and software interfaces, across multiple platforms, peripherals, and devices. TCG specifications are designed to enable more secure computing environments without compromising functional integrity with the primary goal of helping users to protect their information assets from compromise due to external software attack and physical theft. More information and the organization's specifications are available at the Trusted Computing Group's website, www.trustedcomputinggroup.org.

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