Method, apparatus, and product for asserting physical presence with a trusted platform module in a hypervisor environment

Abstract

A method, apparatus, and computer program product are described for asserting physical presence in a trusted computing environment included within a data processing system. The trusted computing environment includes a trusted platform module (TPM). The data processing system is coupled to a hardware management console. The trusted platform module determines whether the hardware management console is a trusted entity. The trusted platform module also determines whether the hardware management console has knowledge of a secret key that is possessed by the TPM. If the TPM determines that the hardware management console is a trusted entity and has knowledge of the secret key, the TPM determines that physical presence has been asserted. Otherwise, if the TPM determines that either the hardware management console is not a trusted entity or the TPM determines that the hardware management console does not have knowledge of the secret key, the TPM determines that physical presence has not been asserted and will not execute commands that require the successful assertion of 'physical presence'.