We do not have any assurance that our basic tools are not compromised.
- Compilers
- Operating Systems
- Hardware Platforms
- Verilog and Other Tools to Produce Chips
At the base, is the compiler. The fear was first formally expressed in
Ken Thompson's 1984 Turing Award Lecture
Reflections on Trusting Trust.
David A. Wheeler's PhD thesis, Fully Countering Trusting Trust through Diverse Double-Compiling
outlines how we might deal with the compiler trust conundrum.
