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μTSS – A Simplified Trusted Software Stack

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Trust and Trustworthy Computing (Trust 2010)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNSC,volume 6101))

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Abstract

The TCG Software Stack (TSS) specifies the software layer for application developers to use functions provided by a Trusted Platform Module (TPM). However, the current TSS interface is highly complex, which makes its usage very difficult and error-prone, and the high complexity makes it unsuitable for embedded devices or security kernels.

We present a simplified TSS design and implementation (μTSS) providing a lightweight and intuitive programming interface for developers based on the TPM main specification. The major principles of the μTSSdesign are a reduced complexity, obtaining type safety, object encapsulation, and a simple error handling. These principles ensure that the resulting μTSSis maintainable and easy to use. Moreover, the modular architecture of the μTSSallows using only a subset of the provided functionality as it is required, e.g., for embedded systems, mobile devices, or in the context of a security kernel. This paper discusses experiences with the μTSS, based on several projects such as the TCG TPM compliance test suite and a Mobile Trusted Module (MTM) implementation.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sirrix AG, Lise-Meitner Allee 4, 44801, Bochum, Germany

    Christian Stüble & Anoosheh Zaerin

Authors
  1. Christian Stüble
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  2. Anoosheh Zaerin
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Heinz College, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, HBH 2105C, 15213, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Alessandro Acquisti

  2. Department of Computer Science, 6211 Sudikoff Laboratory, Dartmouth College, 03755-3510, Hanover, NH, USA

    Sean W. Smith

  3. System Security Lab, Ruhr University Bochum, Universitätsstr. 150, 44780, Bochum, Germany

    Ahmad-Reza Sadeghi

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© 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Stüble, C., Zaerin, A. (2010). μTSS – A Simplified Trusted Software Stack. In: Acquisti, A., Smith, S.W., Sadeghi, AR. (eds) Trust and Trustworthy Computing. Trust 2010. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 6101. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-13869-0_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-13869-0_9

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-13868-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-13869-0

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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