StarForce Technologies has released a new version of the SoftControl TPSecure 4.6.7 product line to monitor the integrity of software devices such as ATMs, payment terminals, medical equipment and automated process control tools.

The new version contains the SoftControl DeCrypt hard disk encryption module.

Encrypting the system volumes of self-service devices allows preventing the following common attacks on ATMS and payment terminals:

• bypassing self-defense of software protection by deleting files from an offline hard drive when booting from external media;
• reverse engineering the ATM software from a stolen hard drive for a targeted attack;
• using a stolen hard disk to attack the processing services is possible because violators have both the certificates to connect to payment application servers and the information from the hard disk.

SoftControl DeCrypt allows decrypting the system disk partition before the operating system starts, with the help of the key generated from the sets of parameters of peripherals connected to computer.

The implementation allows bypassing the operational limitations that are specific to self-service devices (ATMs, payment terminals, information booths):

• it is not possible to enter the password locally to decrypt the partition when the device runs;
• it is not possible to use TPM (Trusted Platform Module, the cryptographic key storage on the motherboard). Writing the keys to TPM leads to deleted certificates of special electronic devices (cash dispenser, bill acceptor, PIN pad, and card reader) and the operation of the devices is disrupted.

SoftControl DeCrypt works along with other modules of the SoftControl protection software. It can be controlled remotely, as well as through the command line. Besides, it is possible to monitor events from the SoftControl Service Center management server.