Trusted computing proponents may have found their best argument yet for incorporating specialized security hardware into every computer system. A report published by computer firmware developer Phoenix Technologies concluded that the risks posed by the most damaging digital attacks could be eliminated if companies adopted technology to identify users’ computers on the network. Based on an analysis of the damage numbers included in 107 cybercrime cases prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice, the author of the eight-page report–market research firm Trusted Strategies–concluded that the most damaging attacks are those where the offender used stolen usernames and passwords and that such attacks caused on average $1.5 million in damages per occurrence. The win for trusted computing: The analysis estimated that 84 percent of the attacks disclosed in court filings could have been prevented by checking the identity of the device being used to connect to a company’s network as well as the user.