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 Palladium: It's not a new
processor from Intel
By DANIEL CALLOWAY,
TheWorldJournal.com
Microsoft's new security plan, code-named Palladium, looks like the work of the Trusted Computing Platform Alliance. Officials at Microsoft announced a similar security initiative this year called the Trusted Computing Platform Alliance, TCPA. They said that the company is looking at implementing new security measures, such as computer identification and high-level encryption, in future operating systems, possibly as early as 2004.
TCPA was formed in 1999 as a group effort among Compaq Corporation, Hewlett-Packard, Co., IBM, Intel Corporation and Microsoft. The TCPA is comprised of 180 companies working on software and hardware improvements in security. Palladium is being designed by Microsoft to boost security for companies and consumers alike that frequently use the Internet.
Microsoft has been portrayed recently in a very bad light with all the security issues it has had to tackle regarding some of its most widely used applications, such as, Outlook, Outlook Express, Internet Explorer, MSN Messenger, Windows Media Player and many more. However, is the plan to implement Palladium an initiative on Microsoft's part to reduce the embarrassment it has had to endure recently, or is it a sincere effort on the part of this company to take the lead on strengthening security for anyone who surfs the Internet or conducts business on the web?
Microsoft officials said that Palladium complements the TCPA's standard by incorporating these key security objectives into its overall security scheme:
Matter of Trust - Users will be able to identify where information came from and who sent it.
Prying Eyes - High-level encryption to prevent unauthorized viewing of data.
Pest Control - Ability to block unknown programs such as viruses or worms, from running on the PC.
No Soliciting - Enables users to filter out e-mail ads.
Fair Share - Digital rights management can limit use of data.
IBM executives had been approached by Microsoft recently asking if the company would begin making security-specific hardware enhancements to further support Palladium efforts. IBM responded that they would be more than willing to assist in the project, and that they had already been taking initiatives in this direction.
Microsoft claims that they will release the source code for Palladium after it is developed, however, free software and open-source advocates are concerned that Microsoft's new programming interface will leave them high and dry when it comes to running their applications under Windows if they don't.
Microsoft Palladium group product manager Mario Juarez said it is still too soon to say what license will be used for Palladium interfaces, but indicated that it would not necessarily be as restrictive as past examples. "We do realize that we are an important company and that we have a responsibility to the industry. The goal is for as many people as possible to be able to take advantage of what we are talking about here. We are not trying to drive this as a Microsoft-only initiative."
Whatever Microsoft's intentions are here, if the final analysis is going to make surfing the Internet and conducting e-business more secure, then I'm all for it. We will just have to see what happens in the following months and years and to what course Microsoft really steers.
Related web sites:
Compaq Corporation
Hewlett-Packard, Co.
IBM
Intel
Microsoft
Trusted Computing Platform
Alliance (TCPA)
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