TEMPEST open-source definition version 0.1alpha

Tue Feb 10 18:33:12 PST 1998

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On 2/10/98 8:19 PM, Ryan Lackey (rdl at mit.edu)  passed this wisdom:

>So, if we're going to try to protect computers from TEMPEST 
>threats, and wedon't have access to the multiple government 
>classified standards, we should come up with the Cypherpunks 
>TEMPEST standard.
>
>A theoretical definition of what we want to do (strong) is that we 
>should beable to put the equipment in a virtual box, have an empty 
>virtual box, and then nothing anything which is not in the TCB can 
>do can distinguish one box from the other. Perhaps the "empty" box 
>should also contain simulators for the ethernet, visible light 
>output, and straight power draw (harmonics are still to be 
>avoided), or in some other definitional way they should be 
>accounted for. This prevents non-TCB programs from utilizing the EM 
>spectrum as a covert channel.  
  [big snip]

 Some of this reminds me of when I worked at Raytheon, I did some coding
for this genius at magnetic fields we had. This was the time of the MX
missile and the 'racetrack' concept, mobile launchers that moved all the
time. The idea was that a significiant percentage of the mobile launch
cannisters were empty and what the scientist I worked with had to do was
design a set of coils for the dummy cannister that would make it have
the same magnetic signature as a real cannister loaded with a real
missile ... "sort of a global thermonuclear shell game" if you will ...

Brian B. Riley --> http://members.macconnect.com/~brianbr
 For PGP Keys  <mailto:brianbr at together.net?subject=Get%20PGP%20Key>

  -- give us the rights Abraham Lincoln cherished lovingly:
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