Countering the 'Trusting Trust' Compiler Attack through Diverse Double-Compiling

Summary

This extensive technical paper by David A. Wheeler presents a method called Diverse Double-Compiling (DDC) to counter the 'Trusting Trust' attack - a sophisticated computer security vulnerability where a compromised compiler can insert malicious code into compiled programs. The attack was originally described by Ken Thompson and was long considered uncounterable. Wheeler's DDC approach involves compiling the compiler with different compilers to detect and prevent such attacks, providing a practical solution to what was previously thought to be an unsolvable security problem.