Over 5 Million Notebook Computers Have Shipped with Atmel TPMs
SAN FRANCISCO, RSA Conference, Feb. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Atmel(R)
Corporation announced today that it has shipped over five million Trusted
Platform Module (TPM) ICs in the world's most popular notebook computers. Much
of the popularity is due to the computer's hardware-based encryption, which
eliminates the need for hardware tokens and reduces administration efforts and
the cost of providing security. The secure storage of encryption keys,
passwords and digital certificates provided by TPMs permit secure wireless
data transfer and a "single sign-on" password manager.
TPMs are single-chip security sub-systems that protect the end-user's
privacy by providing tamper-proof storage and management of the user's
identity, passwords, and encryption keys. Computers without TPMs store
passwords, digital certificates, and encryption keys on the system hard drive,
which is relatively vulnerable to unauthorized access. When installed in
personal computers, TPMs can help to prevent identity theft crimes, such as
email-born viruses and the scams perpetrated on Best Buy(TM) and PayPal(R)
customers, last summer. The ability of TPMs to record and store measurements
of the "state" of the system at boot up can be used to thwart hackers by
limiting data access to specific stages of the boot process and can help
detect viruses or worms that affect the boot up process.
TPM security is based on an industry standard developed by the Trusted
Computing Group (TCG). According to Kerry Maletsky, Business Unit Director at
Atmel, "When you consider that Internet fraud, including things like worms and
viruses, cost billions of dollars each year, it is not surprising that
TPM-enabled computers are selling like hotcakes. TPMs protect people's
identities and identity is the real issue in Internet crime," Maletsky noted.
"Internet crime often takes advantage of a victim's misplaced trust in the
identity of a person sending an email or other transmission. The question is,
can the sender and the recipient of an email be sure that nobody has stolen
the sender's identity? In most computing environments the answer is no. With
trusted computing platforms, the answer is yes.
"For example, last summer's Best Buy and PayPal Internet scams used
'spoofed' emails and 'hijacked' web sites that pretended to be Best Buy and
PayPal in order to elicit sensitive financial information from victims. TPMs
could have protected the victims from these scams because the TPM can ensure
the authenticity of the email source and detect if the message (or data) has
been fraudulently changed. If all parties had had TPMs, the victims could have
known that the bogus emails were not really from Best Buy or PayPal. Any
information that was submitted to their web sites could have been encrypted in
such a way that only PayPal or Best Buy could have read. It would have been
useless to the perpetrators."
"Viruses that propagate by sending copies to everyone in your address book
fail in a TPM environment because the TPM can prevent the virus from signing
the message. When the target gets the virus-generated email, it can be
automatically deleted since it is not properly signed," Maletsky added. "There
is no other means of protection as secure as TPMs. As more people discover
this and as more software and hardware vendors support it, sales of
TPM-enabled computer can be expected to accelerate," Maletsky concluded.
Atmel's AT97SC3201 TPM ICs provide a complete, turnkey, TCG
1.1b-compliant, hardware security solution that integrates a high-performance
low-power processor, 500 ms 2048-bit RSA crypto accelerator, true random
number generator, secure EEPROM storage for public/private keys, SRAM, timer,
real-time clock, LPC interface to Intel and AMD processors, and tamper
prevention circuitry that disables the chip if someone tries to read its
contents. Atmel's AT97SC3201 TPMs include drivers for Windows(R) 98, 2 K, XP,
and NT 4.0 operating systems; as well as MAD and MPD BIOS drivers.
In addition to PCs, the Atmel TPM is also finding its way into embedded
applications such as PDAs, cell phones, POS terminals, set top boxes, and
sensitive eCommerce applications.
Atmel's AT97SC3201 TPM complies with Trusted Computing Group (TCG)
Standard 1.1b. They are available now and are priced at $4.00 in volume.
Atmel supports the newest TCG standard, TCG 1.2. Samples conforming to the
new standard will be available in Q3, 2004.
About TCG
The Trusted Computing Group (TCG) is an open, industry standards
organization formed to develop, define, and promote open standards for
hardware-enabled trusted computing and security technologies, including
hardware building blocks and software interfaces, across multiple platforms,
peripherals, and devices. TCG specifications enable more secure computing
environments without compromising functional integrity, privacy, or individual
rights. The primary goal is to help users protect their information assets
(data, passwords, keys, etc.) from compromise due to external software attack
and physical theft. For more information, go to http://www.trustedcomputinggroup.org.
About Atmel
Founded in 1984, Atmel Corporation is headquartered in San Jose,
California with manufacturing facilities in North America and Europe. Atmel
designs, manufactures and markets worldwide, advanced logic, mixed-signal,
nonvolatile memory and RF semiconductors. Atmel is also a leading provider of
system-level integration semiconductor solutions using CMOS, BiCMOS, SiGe, and
high-voltage BCDMOS process technologies.
NOTE: Atmel(R) is a registered trademark of Atmel Corporation. Best Buy
is a trademark of Best Buy Co., Inc. PayPal is a registered trademark of
PayPal, an eBay Company. Windows, Windows 98, 2000, XP, and NT 4.0 are either
registered trademark or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Other terms and
product names may be the trademarks of others.
Information:
Atmel's AT97SC3201 product information may be retrieved at:
http://www.atmel.com/products/Embedded/
Press Contacts:
Vicki McCann, Marketing Communications Manager - USA,
Tel: +1-719-540-1724, Email: vmccann@cso.atmel.com
Veronique Sablereau, Corporate Communications Manager - Europe,
Tel: +33-1-30-60-70-68, Email: veronique.sablereau@atmel.com
SOURCE Atmel Corporation
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Related links:
http://www.atmel.com
CONTACT:
Vicki McCann, Marketing Communications
Manager - USA, +1-719-540-1724, or vmccann@cso.atmel.com, or
Veronique Sablereau, Corporate Communications Manager - Europe,
+33-1-30-60-70-68, or veronique.sablereau@atmel.com, both of
Atmel Corporation
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