At 9:00 PM -0700 8/30/02, Nomen Nescio wrote: >Bill Frantz writes, regarding the possibility that the Palladium >architecture could be designed to resist the use of encrypted >code: > >> All general purpose computers require a way to move data space to code >> space to support compilation. > >Well, this is usually done by storing the data to the disk, and >then later loading it as a program file. It does not prevent data >and code memory from being distinct, which was the proposal for how >Palladium could reduce the risk of being used to run encrypted code. >If a Palladium program was forced to go through the disk, that is, to >load data, decrypt it, store it to the disk, and then load it as code, >then that would provide a means to get access to the unencrypted code, >defeating the goal of keeping the code within the "vault".
Usually, but not always. Just-in-time compilation systems take interpreted code sequences and compile it, in RAM, to machine instructions. A number of Java virtual machines make use of this technique. More relevant, it is also applicable to some of the Microsoft languages. >> Even if you don't allow compilation, most >> modern systems have enough different powerful scripting languages that >> interpretation is sufficient to support viruses. > >It's not clear why these languages would use the Palladium features and >run their scripts in the shielded mode. But you're right that if they >did, this could provide a mechanism for disassembly-resistant code. Well, some vendors might want to protect their scripts. Just because a program is written in an interpreted language instead of a compiled language doesn't mean that vendors don't want to protect their code. There is an active market in Java obfuscators for just this reason. Cheers - Bill ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Frantz | The principal effect of| Periwinkle -- Consulting (408)356-8506 | DMCA/SDMI is to prevent| 16345 Englewood Ave. [EMAIL PROTECTED] | fair use. | Los Gatos, CA 95032, USA --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Cryptography Mailing List Unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe cryptography" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]