6 ms·
Who controls your computer? and how to make sure it's you
- jeron 10y agois the webpage not loading for anyone?
- EuAndreh 10y agoNot loading for me.
- illys 10y agoClick the link, then click the "text-only" version.
- mundo 10y agoThis seems to be the cache: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:iP072ha-yQwJ:fare.tunes.org/computing/reclaim_your_computer.html+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:iP072ha... edit: Also this should probably have a (2015) on the title, it seems to be an introduction to secure computing for a non-technical audience at a libertarian conference.
- beardog 10y agoArchive link for anyone that can't access it (was down for me): https://archive.fo/inVW5 https://archive.fo/inVW5
- mirimir 10y agoThis works much better than the Google cache. It seems a great article. More than I have time now to read, however. I also like the tone. But perhaps confusing sarcastic, here and there ;)
- ccrush 10y agoWorks for me. Fascinating read.
- gnarly 10y agoIt goes to considerable lengths to discuss formal methods, reasonability, and saner programming languages, yet it doesn't even mention Ada/SPARK? What garbage.
- Freak_NL 10y agoWhen was this article written?
- gpvos 10y agoIt appears to have been published somewhere between June and August 2015. (It links to another article published in June, and archive.fo archived it in August 2015.)
- pjc50 10y agoSpeaking of control, I've been slowly writing up https://github.com/pjc50/pjc50.github.io/blob/master/pentagram-control.md https://github.com/pjc50/pjc50.github.io/blob/master/pentagr... Computers are a battleground for control, and I wanted to have an explanation accessible for non-technical people to understand the important parts of the "threat model".
- crasm 10y agoSo, heptagon of control?
- pjc50 10y agoYeah, the original cool pentagram diagram no longer works. There's an eighth category to add which I've not researched yet: people with physical access to the device. Whether that's jealous spouses installing tracker malware or customs agents scrolling through your facebook.
- shostack 10y agoGreat start. If your audience is people who are not tech savvy, I'd suggest simplifying even further though and adding some easy to grasp visuals.
- chenelson 10y ago'All hail satan' is Whom delivers the {kat>¿ ◇◇ Its called being avself made man, iif u cnw why means. It' s just math. $€T Alf.
- moppl 10y agoThe article is dated. The game changed fundamentally with the introduction of the Intel Management Engine (or the AMD Platform Security Processor) on the x86 platform. The system is now "deep pwned" as described in point 3.1.1 of the article. The manufacturer has ultimate control of the platform, the user has been disowned. https://mail.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/discussion/2016-April/010912.html https://mail.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/discussion/2016-April/0... https://youtu.be/rcwngbUrZNg?t=17m41s https://youtu.be/rcwngbUrZNg?t=17m41s https://blog.invisiblethings.org/papers/2015/x86_harmful.pdf https://blog.invisiblethings.org/papers/2015/x86_harmful.pdf https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-1-4302-6572-6 https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-1-4302-6572-6
- ryukafalz 10y agoWorth noting, it is possible to disable this on certain systems that come with Intel ME out of the box: https://libreboot.org/docs/hcl/gm45_remove_me.html https://libreboot.org/docs/hcl/gm45_remove_me.html There's work in progress on removing the ME blob on the Thinkpad x220 and the Librem 13. But for most modern systems, yes, you're right.
- moppl 10y agoYes right, but the gm45 chipset is a core2Duo chipset. And the X220 features Sandy Bridge (2011). While it is possible to mess around with older implementations of the IME it is pretty much impossible with recent versions. It sits now on the CPU die and is inaccessible. An it is only removing the ME blob in the system's flash memory. The ME has also it's own internal ROM which contains firmware which cannot be altered or read.
- robotmay 10y agoIn the recent AMD AMA thread on Reddit there was a highly upvoted comment asking AMD to look into working with the Coreboot/Libreboot community to improve the PSP situation. It's nothing solid but the AMD guys did answer and say that they would discuss it internally. Better than nothing I guess.
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