Barry & Intel Investors - Intel and RSA are in a joint Hardware/Software Security pact for PCs, Software and Internet Data and e-Commerce traffic.
I think this all ties in to the "rumored" hardware security chip - the Flash-based "FIRMWARE HUB"- that may accompany the new Camino, Carmel & Whitney chip sets.
There are two articles posted below.
Paul
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Monday January 18, 8:06 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: RSA Data Security, Inc.
Intel and RSA to Accelerate Delivery of New PC and
Application Security Products
SAN JOSE, Calif., RSA Data Security Conference, Jan. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Intel Corporation (Nasdaq: INTC - news) and RSA Data Security, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Security Dynamics Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: SDTI - news), today announced that they will work together to develop new technologies that enable upcoming
security-enhanced hardware and software products. These products, such as Intel hardware and RSA software components and tools, are designed to provide a common set of hardware/software resources that developers can utilize in 1999 and beyond to enhance software applications with new security technologies. Security-enhanced applications, such as those that secure credit card transactions on the Internet, are necessary to enable the growth of e-commerce worldwide.
''We're entering an age where e-commerce transactions will be conducted on a global network consisting of a billion connected PCs and hundreds of millions of servers. These transactions must be secure,'' said Michael Glancy, general manager, Intel Platform Security Division. ''Products from Intel and RSA that incorporate these new security technologies will help ensure that the development of secure applications continues at a rapid pace.''
''This new licensing agreement between Intel and RSA establishes an alliance between leading cryptography and hardware providers,'' said Scott Schnell, senior vice president of marketing for RSA and Security Dynamics. ''Working together, our companies can deliver OEM customers and end users even higher levels of security to a broad base of
PCs and servers worldwide.''
As part of the agreement, the two companies will cross-license key security technologies that are designed to enable Intel and RSA to deliver enhancements to their respective hardware and software products, and they will co-market resulting products worldwide. RSA intends to deliver enhanced BSAFE™ Crypto-C and Crypto-J software developers kits that are optimized for Intel's planned security hardware features in mid-1999.
Independent software vendors and enterprise developers creating applications based on these products will benefit
from the joint compatibility with PCs and servers that incorporate Intel hardware and RSA's leading encryption and
security tools. Compatibility with this product base, which runs the majority of today's e-commerce transactions, is
designed to make it possible for developers to shorten the testing and deployment times and costs currently
associated with creating new security-enabled applications.
Intel Corporation
Intel, the world's largest chip maker, is also a leading manufacturer of computer, networking and communications
products. Additional information about Intel is available at www.intel.com/pressroom.
RSA Data Security, Inc.
RSA Data Security, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Security Dynamics Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq: SDTI - news), is
a leading supplier of software components that secure electronic data, with more than 400 million copies of RSA
encryption and authentication technologies installed worldwide. RSA technologies are part of existing and propose
standards for the Internet and World Wide Web, ISO, ITU-T, ANSI, IEEE and are in use in business, financial and
electronic commerce networks around the globe. RSA develops and markets platform-independent security
components and related developer kits, and provides comprehensive cryptographic consulting services. RSA can be
reached at rsa.com.
Third party marks and brands are property of their respective holders.
BSAFE is a trademark of RSA Data Security, Inc.
This press release contains forward-looking statements relating to the
anticipated delivery of news PC and application security products and the
co-marketing of these products by Intel and RSA Data Security and the expected
benefits of such technology, and such statements involve a number of risks and
uncertainties. Among the important factors that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements are
delays in product development, undetected software errors or bugs, competitive
pressures, technical difficulties, changes in customer requirements, general
economic conditions and the risk factors detailed from time to time in
Security Dynamics' periodic reports and registration statements filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission, including without limitation Security
Dynamics' registration Statement on Form S-3, as amended (File No. 333-49949),
filed on April 10, 1998.
SOURCE: RSA Data Security, Inc.
More Quotes
and News:
Intel Corp (Nasdaq:INTC - news)
Security Dynamics Technologies Inc (Nasdaq:SDTI - news)
Related News Categories: computers, semiconductors, software
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eetimes.com
Intel's security plans raise fear
from PC builders
By Rick Boyd-Merritt and Mark Carroll
EE Times
(12/12/98, 11:22 a.m. EDT)
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Intel Corp. will add new
security and software functions to future chip sets in a
move that will boost the profile of its upcoming Katmai
processors as key silicon for multimedia and electronic
commerce. But the plan is raising concerns among
software, semiconductor and systems companies that
fear the processor giant could wind up encroaching on
their markets, extending its own reach deeper into the
PC architecture.
Intel's plans center around a so-called firmware hub,
essentially a flash memory with key BIOS functions, which
will be part of its Camino, Carmel and Whitney chip sets.
Those products will accompany next year's Katmai
processors and are expected to be used in the Merced
line too. "This is an example of Intel taking in one more
piece of the PC architecture," said a senior R&D
manager with a major PC company who asked not to be
named.
Intel would not comment on its unannounced products.
However, the key features of the chip are beginning to
come to light based on reports from multiple sources.
The firmware hub is "basically a flash chip with locks on
its read and write capabilities that can be opened using
a cryptographic protocol," said another source briefed by
Intel.
Hardware security
functions include a
cryptographic engine
to authenticate
"digital certificates"
that Intel or a third
party could load in.
The chip could hold
multiple certificates,
each with permission
to grant specific
features, such as to
permit an operating
system or an MPEG player to run. They would also
ensure that a software program licensed to one user was
not copied and run on another machine, a common
practice. In addition, the certificates will act like unique
serial numbers, identifying a given machine in any
Internet or corporate network transaction, sources said.
The hub may also include a random-number generator to
create public keys for encryption and help enable
encrypted transmissions between PCs. That would
provide security for electronic commerce and software
downloads, possibly including software modules for
host-based modems, MPEG players or audio codecs
that are housed in the firmware hub and run on the CPU.
Another feature sources have mentioned is physical
security, linking sensors to the hub so that it may report
problems to a central network administrator if the case is
tampered with or peripherals are removed.
Even though the firmware-and the chip sets it is part
of-are not due for production until at least mid-1999,
samples have been available in Taiwan for some time.
"We have had samples of the firmware hub for a while,"
said a project manager for First International Computer
Inc. "We really haven't done too much with [it] yet. It is still
not quite clear when it will be used and what its full
functions will be."
The hub chip is designed to incorporate new features
into the PC upon startup, the manager said, not to
replace the standard BIOS, the key software that controls
system I/O peripherals software.
"After a PC is turned on, the firmware hub will be
accessed and then the regular BIOS," said a BIOS
engineer with another Taiwanese company. "The hub will
affect the standard BIOS architecture, but it certainly
won't replace it. That's not its purpose."
Yet the prospect of a possible Intel incursion into BIOS is
giving some industry observers the willies. Adding to
their concern is the fact that Intel has not provided
technical details about its implementation yet. One
analyst said the hub will act as a BIOS registry, a place
from which software emulation and upgrades can be
controlled.
Sources close to Intel suggested the company would be
leery of entering a new PC-related market while under
the shadow of a Federal Trade Commission
investigation. The company's motive is simply to bring
new features to the PC, enhancing sales for corporate
and consumer users, these sources said.
Still, "If Intel controls what and how stuff gets put in the
BIOS, that's really significant," said one analyst. "That's a
wonderful control choke point."
The hub also may come with anti-viral protection. "It
seems that even though the hub will be made using
flash-memory technology, the actual program will be
burned in as a kind of ROM," said the BIOS engineer.
"This is for protection against certain viruses that go into
the BIOS and rewrite it."
The Taiwanese BIOS engineer believes Intel's aim is to
make it easier "to change their memory-controller
initiation in the future." Instead of having to change the
huge north-bridge chips of today, "only the much smaller
hub chip will need to be changed."
At least one of Taiwan's core logic vendors is already
contemplating a clone. "We have no worries about being
able to offer a similar product," said Tzu mu Lin, senior
vice president for Via Technologies Inc. "We have
already lined up technology partners that will allow us to
offer a product that has even more solutions and is more
open than Intel's hub."
The feature set for the Intel hub is still up in the air, Lin
added. "There are some issues as to how it will relate to
traditional BIOS," said Lin.
Len Galasso, a security engineer in the Irvine, Calif.,
office of Phoenix Technology Ltd., said he believes the
architecture will be flexible, letting the chip handle all
BIOS functions or work with a more traditional standalone
flash BIOS. But, he added, with some trepidation, "I think
Intel wants to control the BIOS."
Galasso and at least one semiconductor executive said
they are concerned the move could lock them out of
design wins for BIOS, keyboard controllers or flash chips.
A diagram of the firmware hub shows it is linked to a
"south bridge" I/O controller in the chip set with what
appears to be a unique 4-bit serial bus. At least one
keyboard-controller maker is concerned about a
proprietary interface. His device links to flash BIOS for
scratchpad RAM space, a configuration that would be
impossible with the firmware hub, since Intel has refused
to detail the interface to his company.
Galasso said he doubted Intel would try to use a
proprietary interface. "The industry will reject anything
exotic at that level," he said. "It would be an obvious ploy
to lock people in."
Others cite more generic concerns that security features
often bring. "This business about having a unique serial
number or digital certificate has a few civil
libertarians-including myself-freaked, but the good news
is you can turn it off," said one analyst familiar with the
initiative.
"In fact, it's not clear if Intel's firmware hub will be
proprietary or not," said Shing Wong, senior vice
president of Silicon Integrated Systems Inc. in Taiwan.
"The BIOS companies will still be in business even if the
hub goes completely Intel's way. The catch is that [the
hub] will make them more beholden to Intel than they are
now.
"The hub is in its early stages now," said Wong. "It will
happen, but Intel's idea of how it will be implemented may
have to change." He cited, especially, "a problem with
the compatibility of certain registers. There are very real
issues between Microso |
