Those of you with long memories will recall
a barrage of complaints in the run up to Windows 8's launch
that concerned the ability to install other operating systems—whether
they be older versions of Windows, or alternatives such as Linux or
FreeBSD—on hardware that sported a "Designed for Windows 8" logo.
To get that logo, hardware manufacturers had to fulfil a range of
requirements for the systems they built, and one of those requirements
had people worried. Windows 8 required machines to support a feature
called UEFI Secure Boot. Secure Boot protects against
malware that interferes with the boot process in order to inject itself
into the operating system at a low level. When Secure Boot is enabled,
the core components used to boot the machine must have correct
cryptographic signatures, and the UEFI firmware verifies this before it
lets the machine start. If any files have been tampered with, breaking
their signature, the system won't boot.
