Secure IT without vulnerabilities and back doors

Increasing dependence on information technology calls for strengthening the requirements on their safety and security. Vulnerabilities that result from flaws in hardware and software are a core problem which market mechanisms have failed to eliminate. A strategy for resolving this issue should consider the following options: (1) private- and public-sector funding for open and secure production, (2) strengthening the sovereign control over the production of critical IT components within an economic zone, and (3) improving and enforcing regulation. This paper analyses the strengths and weaknesses of these options and proposes a globally distributed, secure supply chain based on open and mathematically proved components. The approach supports the integration of legacy and new proprietary comp onents.