Becoming a tyrant: Implementing secure boot in embedded devices
Kaya Theatre | Sun 16 Jan 3:45 p.m.–4:30 p.m.
Presented by
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Irving is an embedded systems engineer. He enjoys conjuring complex incantations in an arcane language, then casting it into a spell and inserting it into a piece of silicon with a magic wand, bringing life into the previously dead hardware. In short, writing C programs and programming it with a JTAG debugger.
Normally an indoors person, he can occasionally be found chasing solarcars down the Stuart Highway in the Australian outback.
Abstract
In 2007, the FSF published version 3 of the GNU General Public License. One of its goal is to prevent Tivoization - the practice of preventing software modifications in a system by means of hardware restrictions, such as secure boot. A lot of people (myself included) does not like this restriction, as it prevents them modifying the behavior of something they already owned.
So how did I ended up implementing one of these?
In this talk, I will start by introducing mechanisms involved in secure boot, which usually differ across vendors but are based on the same principles.
We will look at some reasons why secure boot might be desirable for the manufacturer, customer, and even the general public; followed by a peek at things that does not have it and how it works out for them.
I will also share my experiences in implementing one, including some blockers and factors that were considered. We will finish with some guides in case you too, would like to undertake the journey to become a tyrant.
In 2007, the FSF published version 3 of the GNU General Public License. One of its goal is to prevent Tivoization - the practice of preventing software modifications in a system by means of hardware restrictions, such as secure boot. A lot of people (myself included) does not like this restriction, as it prevents them modifying the behavior of something they already owned. So how did I ended up implementing one of these? In this talk, I will start by introducing mechanisms involved in secure boot, which usually differ across vendors but are based on the same principles. We will look at some reasons why secure boot might be desirable for the manufacturer, customer, and even the general public; followed by a peek at things that does not have it and how it works out for them. I will also share my experiences in implementing one, including some blockers and factors that were considered. We will finish with some guides in case you too, would like to undertake the journey to become a tyrant.