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It's a shame that ME can't be removed or disabled on modern Intel CPU's. Same goes for AMD and maybe companies that implement something like ME in ARM. OpenSPAR
by eloy 10y ago
It's a shame that ME can't be removed or disabled on modern Intel CPU's. Same goes for AMD and maybe companies that implement something like ME in ARM. OpenSPARC is quite dead, sadly enough.
Highly recommended read about x86 security: http://blog.invisiblethings.org/papers/2015/x86_harmful.pdf http://blog.invisiblethings.org/papers/2015/x86_harmful.pdf
The author of this paper is also the developer of Qubes OS. They recently added another requirement to laptops who are 'Qubes certified': they must run Coreboot. It's not Libreboot yet, but that is a huge leap forward for x86 security. Hopefully this will trigger vendors to make their hardware Coreboot compatibile. It won't do anything about Intel ME, but it is a step in the right direction.
I ordered a Thinkpad x200 to flash it with Libreboot last week, just to have at least one device without any malware (in RMS sense)
- subway 10y agoI have hope in Risc-V.
- eloy 10y agoI don't have any hope for other hardware. The only hope that I have is that Intel will change their mind and remove it, or make it fully open source. The sad thing is that ME isn't even developed by Intel, but a third party. They sublicense it to Intel. So even if Intel would be willing to distribute the source, they couln't.
- userbinator 10y agoI think someone has to leak everything, Snowden-style, although with all the increasing "security" that could be a bit difficult... nevertheless, if someone does decide to be a hero and do it, I fully support their efforts.
- dmfdmf 10y agoUnless this leak revealed that the NSA forced Intel and AMD to include ME in their chips to advance their mass spying efforts such a leak would be a crime. Snowden's case is different since he was revealing info that Americans (or their reps) have a right to know. The intelligence agencies are building a mass surveillance infrastructure that is prima facie not compatible with a free country and almost certainly a violation of the constitution. The constitution and amendments do not directly apply to Intel and they are free to do whatever they want and we are free to buy or not to buy as we see fit. TBH, I think there is a lot of focus on this ME technology and I see no reason that at some point someone is going to crack the model or the encryption and reveal exactly what it is doing and how to disable it.
- ktRolster 10y agoIf Intel said, "needs to be open source or we'll find another supplier" then it would become open source.
- AdmiralAsshat 10y agoAFAIK not even Google could get Intel to share the source code on their chips in order to make some of their Chromebooks. If Google can't do it, I doubt a handful of "GNU extremists" are going to change their minds.
- wmf 10y agoY'all all ordered Talos, right? https://www.raptorengineering.com/TALOS/prerelease.php https://www.raptorengineering.com/TALOS/prerelease.php Or Novena? https://www.crowdsupply.com/sutajio-kosagi/novena https://www.crowdsupply.com/sutajio-kosagi/novena No?
- mwcampbell 10y agoFor something rather more low-end, but good enough for some common tasks, don't forget EOMA68: https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68/micro-desktop https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68/micro-desktop
- wyldfire 10y ago> ... for around $5,300 USD. Well, let me take a step back and first say that the project is impressive and I really like it. But the cost is staggering.
- davexunit 10y agoI own a Novena. It's a fun piece of hardware.
- whamlastxmas 10y agoAs just a day-to-day computer for software development, how does it work out? Can it run Firefox/Chromium just fine? What sort of issues have you had?
- james_a_craig 10y agoI've got a couple of Novenas. It's good for development except for web-browsing; for whatever reason firefox and chromium are both pretty sluggish on it. Everything else seems fine; I suspect that it's mostly down to video drivers, which are still somewhat in a state of flux (but getting better).
- davexunit 10y agoYeah, Novena will be much more usable once the etnaviv drivers are ready.
- m3rc 10y agoI have an x200 sitting around (although the case is cracked after a drop) but I've held off on trying libreboot because it requires a ~$50 piece of hardware to flash it (a BeagleBone Black)
- coredog64 10y agoI'll trade you a BBB for an RPi.
- m3rc 10y agoHaha really? Can't you get an rPi for super cheap now, like $20?
- inyorgroove 10y agoDon't need a beagle bone black. I have flashed my laptop (T500) with a raspberry pi just fine.
- m3rc 10y agoCould you direct me to a tutorial on that? I contacted the Libreboot devs before and they told me they wouldn't give any info out about using a different device
- inyorgroove 10y agoSorry didn't see this yesterday. Don't know if you will come back. Here is some a page that helped me with the wiring: https://web.archive.org/web/20150908054150/http://blogs.fsfe.org/the_unconventional/2015/06/06/libreboot-x200-raspberry-pi/ https://web.archive.org/web/20150908054150/http://blogs.fsfe... and https://github.com/bibanon/Coreboot-ThinkPads/wiki/Hardware-Flashing-with-Raspberry-Pi https://github.com/bibanon/Coreboot-ThinkPads/wiki/Hardware-...
- m3rc 10y agoty ty