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Comment by DenisM | Hacker News Reader

A decade ago when I worked at Microsoft I shopped around the idea of using XBox as a basis for secure computing.

XBox was designed to function in the hands of the adversary, to be robust against peripheral attacks and even motherboard mods. Even the main memory was encrypted by the on-CPU controller. Obviously, no open JTAGs. A lot of expertise there.

In my fantasies it would form the basis of the DoD infrastructure and then trickle down to finance. It was deemed to be not solving any practical problems, so it didn't go anywhere. Oh well, I found other fun thins to do in my life.

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Are you referring to the original Xbox? Modchips hit the scene for that in ~ 2 years after release. It's not exactly what I would consider a basis for secure computing. Or maybe you are just referencing the procedures "main memory was encrypted by the on-CPU controller. Obviously, no open JTAGs" should be ratified to create a basis for secure computing, a checklist of things to do/prevent before considering a device "Secure".

XBox 360 had the on-CPU memory controller with encryption, and it was very tamper-resistant overall. A good model to follow.

IIRC, the original XBox made the assumption that the main bus was secure due to its high-speed, which turned out to be false. That was one of the few things that was unencrypted, and it offered a way in.

Didn't even need a modchip. There was a technique where you could softmod by simply unplugging the ide harddrive right after boot and hot plugging it into a desktop.

https://www.reddit.com/r/originalxbox/wiki/hotswap

Ah the old softmod, with the 007 game as I recall. Made a great party trick.

I was really impressed with Xbox 360 security. I wanted to use it as a tamper-resistant, PPC desktop. There just wasnt enough demand for underpowered, overpriced desktops secure or not. That happened to folks selling laptops running separation kernels, too. Hardly any people would buy them.

Cool you had the idea, too, though. At this point, Id rather see someone just fund a Freescale implementation of the security parts on their communications processors. Can get more mileage in the market that way.

Anything the government uses that needs to be hardware-secure (like Secret or Top Secret network devices) are either manufactured in small batches in a secure location or it's totally airgapped so that any "additions" don't matter. Let the Chinese have their extra chip installed anywhere they want and you wouldn't get anything out of it anyways, in that situation.

The real problem is for stuff connected to the non-secure internet, like banks, industry, personal info, healthcare, etc.

Would it be technically feasible to have such a small chip which would transfer data out via cellular network instead? Presumably that might not work well in the DC itself, but perhaps for compromising company laptops from supply chain side?

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