Trusted Computing for Collaboration

The term “trusted computing” refers to a technology developed by the Trusted Computing Group. It mainly addresses two questions: “Which software is executed on a remote computer?” and “How can secret keys and other security sensitive data be stored and used safely on a computer?”. In this chapter the authors introduce the ideas of the trusted computing technology first and later explain how it can help us with establishing “trust” into a business partner (e.g., for B2B or B2C interactions). More precisely: the authors explain how to establish trust into the business partner’s computing machinery. So in their chapter “trust” means, that one business partner can be sure, that the other business partner’s computing system behaves in an expected and non malicious manner. The authors define “trust” as something that can be measured by cryptographic functions on one computer and be reported towards and evaluated by the business partner’s computer, not as something that is derived from observations or built upon legal contracts.