RESEARCHING SECURE BOOT IN LINUX

A European Organisation

When your trusted experts don’t have the answer, you need someone with the understanding to do the research and the expertise to develop and demonstrate the solution.

The UK national technical authority, CESG, which advises the UK Government on security issues has published guidance for the secure use of various end-user platforms.

One element of security incorporated into the guidance is the ability of the platform to boot securely, ensuring that nothing has interfered with the process.

Ubuntu Linux scored highly in many aspects in the guidance – but could not easily be configured to boot securely. The challenge was to undertake research that identified the components required to enable this functionality and to implement a demonstration of it working.

We used our expertise in integrating components from different sources and our experience in developing systems that boot securely to develop a solution.