How can I write an application which utilizes Intel IPT hardware?

Question

What is involved in writing some kind of abstraction layer for Intel IPT hardware?

For those unfamiliar with Intel IPT, it is an embedded co-processor used to generate unique 6 character one-time passwords every 30 seconds starting from a secret seed.

For an example of real-world usage, check out Valve's SteamGuard which allows the user to register a PC with their steam account such that their PC now acts as a second factor of authentication, much like the RSA securid tokens, but built into your computer. Another client would be Symantec's VIP which, as far as I can tell, acts as a middle-man between your IPT hardware and websites that seek extra authentication (you can use this with ebay as of now - probably other examples out there as well).

My search for technical documentation has turned up nothing useful so far and what I've found is more marketing directed and not useful for an implementer. Do you have to become one of Intel's "Trusted partners" (Symantec is listed as one) in order to obtain the necessary resources? Is there an audit process involved?

Answer 1

I looked into this myself, and discovered that you have to partner with Intel. It's a closed project at the moment and there's no public documentation or SDK. In order to become a partner there's an auditing process that involves looking at your hardware and software scenarios, plus the training of your staff. They also told me there's fees involved.

Sorry I can't be of much help on the technological aspects of it, as I didn't pursue that avenue further.