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Authorities at Germany's Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) later clarified that it was the Trusted Computing specs in Windows 8 in conjunction with the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip embedded in the hardware that creates the alleged security issue. BSI released a statement that backtracked slightly, insisting that using Windows 8 in combination with a TPM may make a system safer, but noting that it is investigating "some critical aspects related to specific scenarios in which Windows 8 is operated in combination with a hardware that has a TPM 2.0".Trusted Computing is a controversial bunch of specifications developed by a group of companies including AMD, Cisco, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Microsoft and Wave Systems Corp.The tech is designed to stop the use of software and files which do not contain the correct digital rights permissions (thus protecting the property of vendors behind the protocols), including "unauthorised operating systems" (a specific function of the much-maligned Secure Boot). Microsoft argues that Secure Boot protects users from rootkits and other malware attacks. The set of permissions is automatically updated online, outside of the control of the user.A machine that contains a Trusted Platform Module and runs software adhering to the Trusted Computing specifications is, arguably, under the control of the vendor – in this case Microsoft. It also identifies the machine to the vendor, meaning that users' identities can be linked to their machines as well as their online activities. As Redmond is a US firm, opponents to the protocols argue, users' data is theoretically accessible to US spooks in the National Security Agency via the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, as Die Zeit points out.A TPM 2.0 chip is being built into more and more computers running Windows 8.
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Topic: Germany warns: You just CAN'T TRUST some Windows 8 PCs (Read 801 times)
