Tag Archives: architecture

CHERI: Architectural support for the scalable implementation of the principle of least privilege

Academic papers, Open-source security, Operating systems, Processors, Programmable logic, Programming languages, , , , ,

[CHERI tablet photo]
FPGA-based CHERI prototype tablet — a 64-bit RISC processor that boots CheriBSD, a CHERI-enhanced version of the FreeBSD operating system.
Only slightly overdue, this post is about our recent IEEE Security and Privacy 2015 paper, CHERI: A Hybrid Capability-System Architecture for Scalable Software Compartmentalization. We’ve previously written about how our CHERI processor blends a conventional RISC ISA and processor pipeline design with a capability-system model to provide fine-grained memory protection within virtual address spaces (ISCA 2014, ASPLOS 2015). In our this new paper, we explore how CHERI’s capability-system features can be used to implement fine-grained and scalable application compartmentalisation: many (many) sandboxes within a single UNIX process — a far more efficient and programmer-friendly target for secure software than current architectures.

Continue reading CHERI: Architectural support for the scalable implementation of the principle of least privilege →

GetCash from NatWest

Banking security, Security engineering, , ,

It has been four or five months since NatWest launched a new function in its mobile phone app – GetCash. The goal was to allow customers to withdraw cash from NatWest’s ATMs without a debit or credit card. The app receives a six digit code that customers can type into an ATM and get as much as £100 at a time. I am not sure how useful it is as I personally forget my mobile phone more often than my wallet but it appears that some crooks found it very useful indeed.

A news about the service being suspended broke out on 6th of October and it has been covered in BBC Breakfast today. I have several thoughts related to this incident. Continue reading GetCash from NatWest →