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Yes right, we were. But we were able to install our own firmware before there was the IME. And it has also changed in the sense that the IME is a full fledged
by moppl 10y ago
Yes right, we were. But we were able to install our own firmware before there was the IME.
And it has also changed in the sense that the IME is a full fledged autonomous universal computer which has it's own RAM, ROM, clock etc. It is not just some very specific chip with hard-coded functionality, no, it can e.g. load and run Java applets. So it is a very powerful moving target which can be used for whatever it is programmed to. Rootkit researcher Joanna Rutkowska called it the perfect rootkitting infrastructure.
- shostack 10y agoAre there any documented cases of this vector being used against a user?
- AnimalMuppet 10y agoNot documentation, but... a former co-worker had done some work for intel agencies. He told me about something that was similar to this (though back in the 2008 time frame, so not using IME). If he can be believed (and I can neither confirm nor disprove what he told me, nor can I now prove that he ever said anything), this approach has been used for a long time.