Externally verifiable code execution

Abstract

The use of hardware and software technologies help to realize a primitive for externally verifiable code execution. This primitive allows an external entity to obtain assurance that an artibitrary piece of code executes untampered by any malware that may be present on an external computing device. Pionner is a software based technique in which the root of trust is established dynamical. The vulnerabilities in the software systems and the availability of tools for constructing exploit code has reduced the amount of effort required for attackers to introduce malware into computing devices. The computing device executes a self-checksumming verification function, which computes a checksum over its own instruction sequence. Externally verifiable code execution can be used as a building block to construct security applications that will empower users to use their computing device confidently.