markdown/AssuredTooChain.md


1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16


Issues of an Assured Tool-Chain
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.