This is probably only *theoretically* possible with quantum computation, but it's *practically* possible with tamperproof hardware: TCMs used for good instead of evil, maybe?

What I'm planning doesn't have much in the way of uniqueness of hardware. The only unique thing is.. wait.. shouldn't I patent this first?

The whole hardware device will be as trusted as any TPM would be. And probably be more trustworthy than any TPM that exists now. 't Is a tricky thing. The programs run in a vacuum, even they can't know where they run. That changes the purpose of a "TPM" significantly.

2014-07-28 19:53 GMT+02:00 Troy Benjegerdes <hozer@hozed.org>:
On Mon, Jul 28, 2014 at 06:05:47PM +0200, Lodewijk andré de la porte wrote:
> <3
>
> If you're a secure kernel developer, Onion routing expert, fantastic C
> coder or technology investor, and this triggered your interests, please
> contact me!

I would be very interested in contract work for running Linux on L4 microkernels.

There will be need for running software on the secure platform, but I suspect resources will be so pricy that Linux will be too fat. I'm not really sure about that left or right, so don't pin me down on it. In tone with microkernels it would be nice to make wrappers for portions of Linux APIs, also to ease porting.
 
You can see my experience here https://lkml.org/lkml/1999/3/7/59

But if you give me the code, and I can emulate the hardware with qemu,
I can extract keys/code/whatever from anything running inside the 'secure'
microkernel.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by this. At least in my design there is absolutely no unique (platform) information available, that includes platform/application keys. If you need them you'll have to make them in your own userspace.
 
If you want the 'tamper evident' hardware it must be open-source hardware
and you will need on the order of at least a million USD to fabricate the
silicon,

From what I heard from those that make mining hardware about half a million is enough. But I'm afraid trustable silicon is only part of the problem. The trustable silicon will already require some sort of minimalism to allow for validation, but it gets worse. To prevent data observation the rest of the casing will have to be able to self-destruct (think harddrives coated in thermite), and therefore self-observe in known an unknown ways. It also musn't radiate patterns, which will be exceedingly hard to prove. It will involve Faraday's cages and the like. Such hardware design is has been attempted before, but is probably still less effort than the software.
 
and then another million to offer cash prizes at DEFCON for anyone
that can hack the silicon & microkernel.

I was thinking of a few millions thrown at companies banks could trust, to validate proofs, check circuits, observe fabrication, etc. and eventually undersign responsibility for the validity of the end result.
 
So if you can secure 2 to 10 million, let's get it done.

I don't think that'd be enough. It requires a small horde of experts and a significant support infrastructure. On top of that the idea is exceedingly hard to convey. The idea that the cloud can be more secure then an in-house dedicated server is very foreign. It was to me, when I thought it up.

The upside is that the income model is very simple. Just charge for resources on the computing grids.
 
Otherwise talking about the theory of a formal-methods 'microkernel' running
on today's buggy broken pre-trojaned hardware is unethical and dangerous.

It's not that unethical and dangerous, it just wouldn't work! How can you claim to stay afloat when you're underwater? The hardware that makes op the grid will probably be a collection of simplistic components bought in VHDL-form. These simple, trusted, components will likely be in a shroud of not-vital components that do some practical stuff, like connecting to the Internet. Fresh ground to find those stupid patents, too.
 
Do you know what your network card firmware is doing? Neither do I, but I bet
the NSA and Chinese intelligence will have updates for you when the 'secure'
kernel comes out.

Are you really prepared to see how deep the rabbit hole goes?