Hardware-based encryption: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 18:56, 25 January 2018

Revision as of 15:24, 27 January 2018

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|caption = The [[IBM 4758]] Cryptographic Module

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'''Hardware-based encryption''' is the use of [[computer hardware]] to assist software, or sometimes replace software, in the process of data [[encryption]]. Typically, this is implemented as part of the [[CPU|processor]]'s instruction set. For example, the [[Advanced Encryption Standard|AES]] encryption algorithm (a modern [[cipher]]) can be implemented using the [[AES instruction set]] on the ubiquitous [[x86]] architecture]].<ref name="Intel AES Instructions" /> Such instructions also exist on the [[ARM architecture]].<ref name="cortex cryptography" /> However, more unusual systems exist where the cryptography module is separate from the central processor, instead being implemented as a [[coprocessor]], in particular a [[secure cryptoprocessor]], of which an example is the [[IBM 4764]].<ref name="IBM 4764" /> Hardware implementations can be faster and less prone to exploitation than traditional software implementations, and furthermore can be protected against tampering.<ref name="performance" /> However, hardware implementations use additional space on the processor die, and any security vulnerability (such as [[Spectre (security vulnerability)|Spectre]]) cannot be solved with a software update.<ref name="MeltdownSpectre" />

== History ==

Hardware-based encryption arguably began in the 1987 with the ABYSS (A Basic Yorktown Security System) project.<ref name="ABYSS" /><ref name="building 4758" /> The aim of this project was to protect against [[Software Piracy]]. However, the application of computers to cryptography in general dates back to the 1940s and [[Bletchley Park]], where the [[Colossus computer]] was used to break the encryption used by German High Command during [[World War 2]]. The use of computers to ''encrypt'', however, came later. In particular, until the development of the [[Intergrated Circuit]], of which the first was produced in 1960, computers were impractical for encryption, since, in comparison to the portable [[form factor (design)|form factor]] of the [[Enigma machine]],<ref name="Crypto Enigma" /> Computers of the era took the space of an entire building. It was only with the development of the [[Microcomputer]] that computer encryption became feasible, outside of niche applications. The development of the [[World Wide Web]] lead to the need for consumers to have access to encryption, as [[Online Shopping]] became prevalent.<ref name="consumers" /> The key concerns for consumers were security and speed.<ref name="consumers" /> This led to the eventual inclusion of the key algorithms into processors as a way of both increasing speed and security.<ref name="performance" />