Trusted Platform Module Basics: Using TPM in Embedded Systems
* Clear, practical tutorial style text with real-world applications
* First book on TPM for embedded designers
* Provides a sound foundation on the TPM, helping designers take advantage of hardware security based on sound TCG standards
* Covers all the TPM basics, discussing in detail the TPM Key Hierarchy and the Trusted Platform
Module specification
* Presents a methodology to enable designers and
developers to successfully integrate the TPM into an embedded design and verify the TPM’s operation on a specific platform
* Includes an accompanying CD-ROM that contains the full source code, which can be customized and used in embedded designs-an extremely useful tool and timesaver for embedded developers!
· This sound foundation on the TPM provides clear, practical tutorials with detailed real-world application examples
· The author is reknowned for training embedded systems developers to … More >>
Trusted Platform Module Basics: Using TPM in Embedded Systems
I work for the company that makes the TPM’s in the book, and the company that Steve used to work for. This book is simply wrong in many places. Steve blamed the editor for “correcting” the book. Go get the IBM press book or just read standards on the TCG site. We use the copies we have (we got a case of them) to level wobbly desks.
There is not a whole lot to complain about. This is the only book I found with no mention of having to use operating systems calls, which when working with embedded micro controllers is usually irrelevant. It gives a step by step detail low level walk through of each command which is helpful if your trying to wade through the spec. I got both the IBM press book and found it to be a good overview, but not much help when it comes to the low level interfacing and non-os work. There are some mistakes, but this is a pretty small niche area to develop on, I’m really surprised there are any book written on it at this level at all.
The book may have some writing issues as Kinney writes in a very informal style. But engineers aren’t known for their writing – they’re known for building things. We are also known for being very critical.
Still, his book provides a basic background in trusted computing and the cryptography implemented using TPMs. It’s main focus is explaining the various Trusted Platform Module (TPM) commands used within the TCG v1.1b spec. There is a chapter on some of the differences between v1.1b and v1.2. I would have liked to see some very basic c programs included to get a better feel of actually using the commands together. That would be my only real complaint.
The author does have some pride toward the product he helped develop. But from talk within the TCG community, he no longer works for Atmel, where he helped developed the TPM firmware. So he’s not trying to sell anything he can profit from. I think he’s just proud of his team’s work.
Wow. As an engineer, I’ve read some seriously bad writing, but rarely does a technical book plead so convincingly for review by a competent editor. The book is so littered with “with regards to,” “relative to,” “concerning,” and “it is safe to say that,” I’d swear it would shrink by half if only the author had the vaguest familiarity with the work of Professors Strunk and White. The passive voice has never found a more welcoming home. And you know you’re in for a rough ride when you find the publisher’s name misspelled on the very first page (it’s “Newnes,” not “Newness”).
On top of that, the author insists on promoting his employer’s products, and spends half a chapter ranting about “hackers” who levied “malicious attacks” on their Xboxes by installing Linux on them. Simply unprofessional.
As for content, the book promises early on to guide embedded systems developers in implementing TPM in their designs, but ends up devoting far more space to niggling protocol details than to suggestions on their use.
There’s some good information buried somewhere in this book, but unless you have a babelfish handy, I’d recommend you hold your nose and read the freely-available TPM specifications rather than spending money on this volume.
Wow, where to start? I guess with the introduction that contains errors of fact – RSA does not stand for random scheduling algorithm. This gets the book of to a really bad start and it just lurches along from there. This book is just full of details without any relevant context. The first chapter tells what calls to use to initialize the TPM for memory present and memory absent implementations, but doesn’t define the difference between memory present and memory absent and why you would choose one over the other. Let alone not providing a context chapter and jumping right into providing call details. The writing style is the most confusing thing that I have ever run across, with irrelevant clauses included that just confuse the situation. I had to read it with a pen and cross out all of the irrelevant parts and then re-read the paragraph in order to understand it. It’s a stream of conciousness technical book. As hard as the TCG specifications are to understand, this book doesn’t make them any easier. I was hoping for a guided trip through the architecture to prepare me for tackling the specifications. I think the specifications are easier to read directly than this book.
I’ve been in the computer industry 20 years and never have I encountered such a poorly written work.