I am thinking of this scenario. Microsoft produces a software with a known signing key, After a 10 million copies are out, the secret key is determined, and counterfeit software is produced. Now, we have 10 million good software out there, some number of counterfeits and the Microsoft keys are no longer uniquely traceable back to it.
Who pays, and who supplies fixups, and for how long? And suppose the problem happens again at a later date, but this time after another 10 million items are out in the wild. So we have three generations of signing keys for the identical software module. Can all three remain valid? What does the consumer do if he has to rebuild his system?
What a potential mess.
Does the user have to create a full image backup that was created with some generation of signing keys as the only way to perform system recovery? Microsoft has system restore point software. Does it do checking for signed modules?
Re: What happens if Microsoft's keys are stolen?
Who pays, and who supplies fixups, and for how long? And suppose the problem happens again at a later date, but this time after another 10 million items are out in the wild. So we have three generations of signing keys for the identical software module. Can all three remain valid? What does the consumer do if he has to rebuild his system?
What a potential mess.
Does the user have to create a full image backup that was created with some generation of signing keys as the only way to perform system recovery? Microsoft has system restore point software. Does it do checking for signed modules?