Author: Mike Hearn 2013-07-30 22:17:44
Published on: 2013-07-30T22:17:44+00:00
TPMs (Trusted Platform Modules) are hardware components that provide permanent storage in the form of NVRAM. They are designed to be as cheap as possible and have been standard with nearly all computers, except for Macs, for a long time. The cost of TPMs is only a few dollars at most, which is why they are slow. Some motherboards come with a TPM module header, but they do not come installed. The modules themselves may cost around $50-$100 and come with API docs.The goal of using TPM NVRAM is to avoid wearing down the hard drive and extend its useful life. However, because the TPM has a limited number of write cycles, it poses a problem if someone wants to delete data securely. Using TPM NVRAM solves this issue, albeit at a high usability cost. If the TPM storage has a limited number of write cycles, it may seem unreliable. Therefore, reliable and "really gone" data can be achieved on platters or SSDs provided the disk is encrypted. Overall, TPMs are an essential component of computer security and are widely used across different systems.
Updated on: 2023-06-07T14:53:18.254997+00:00