Appendix C: The Windows Integrity Mechanism and Windows Kernel Mode Code Integrity

Windows Vista enforces a requirement on 64-bit platforms that all kernel mode binaries must be digitally signed. Verifying the digital signature ensures that the integrity of the binary file has not been tampered with, because the signature was applied when the image was created. For more information on the Windows driver signing requirements, see Driver Signing Requirements for Windows (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=90930). The Windows Vista component implementing kernel mode binary image signature verification is known as Code Integrity. Code Integrity verifies the integrity of kernel-mode binary files as the image is loaded into memory by the operating system loader (Winload.exe) or the kernel. Code Integrity is not part of the Windows integrity mechanism for access control described in this article.