“At the Black Hat DC Conference 2010 security researcher Christopher Tarnovsky of FlyLogic Engineering has demonstrated a way to defeat the Trusted Platform Module chips widely used to secure data in computers, identity cards, gaming systems like the Xbox 360, cable set-top boxes, and other electronics. TPM modules are widely used in enterprise, health care, government, and military applications to protect data through encryption, particularly on portable devices that might be easily lost or stolen. Although Tarnovsky’s process is labor intensive and requires both specialized equipment and a significant period of physic access to the device to be cracked, his step-by-step instructions do outline how to get data out of a TPM-protected system, including encryption keys and manufacturing information that could be used to create pre-cracked counterfeit chips.”
