Trusted client

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In computing, a trusted client is a device or program controlled by the user of a service, but with restrictions designed to prevent its use in ways not authorized by the provider of the service. That is, the client is a device that vendors trust and then sell to the consumers, whom they do not trust. Examples include video games played over a computer network or the Content Scramble System (CSS) in DVDs.

Trusted client software is considered fundamentally insecure: once the security is broken by one user, the break is trivially copyable and available to others. As computer security specialist Bruce Schneier states, "Against the average user, anything works; there's no need for complex security software. Against the skilled attacker, on the other hand, nothing works."^[1] Trusted client hardware is somewhat more secure, but not a complete solution.^[2]

Trusted clients are attractive to business as a form of

• Digital rights management
• Dongle
• Secure cryptoprocessor
• Trust

References