Linux Foundation, Canonical and Red Hat Weigh In On Secure Boot

There's been some hubbub lately about Secure Boot, a hardware-verified, malware-free operating system bootstrap process that aims to improve the overall security of computers. Part of the UEFI specification, Secure Boot can forbid the loading and execution of unsigned operating systems. Microsoft is requiring that Secure Boot be activated and enforced for any OEM systems that want to use the "Designed for Windows 8" logo. The nature of the technology has some worrying that Microsoft is making a play to lock out Free Software operating systems from OEM computers. After some initial hysteria on Slashdot (where else?), calmer minds have prevailed, and have reviewed the UEFI Secure Boot specification in some detail. It's a pretty marked change from the old BIOS with which many of us are familiar: the use of public key cryptography makes the whole thing considerably more complex. But there's nothing about Secure Boot, prima facie, that specifically locks out Free Software operating systems.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/lCjzlsYaoy4/

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