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J. Dyer, R. Perez, S.W. Smith, M. Lindemann.
``Application Support Architecture for a High-Performance, Programmable Secure Coprocessor.''
22nd National Information Systems Security Conference.
October 1999.

Abstract

A "secure system" should be secure---but should also be a system that achieves some particular functionality. A family of secure systems that our group has been investigating (and building) are high-end secure coprocessors: devices that combine a general-purpose computing environment with high-performance cryptography inside a tamper-responding secure boundary. With the appropriate application software, such secure coprocessors can solve security problems that otherwisewould be difficult or impossible.

In this paper, we examine a high-end secure coprocessor as a system: the programming environment it must provide to support such on-card applications; the software and hardware architecturewe developed and implemented to provide this support; and some of the lessons we learned from this development.

This paper is not just an academic exercise, but a case study of commercial research and development (leading to a released product, the IBM 4758 [4]).

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