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It runs in god mode with access to anything and everything, and is completely hidden from even system mode software. With access to peripherals it can access th
by kobeya 9y ago
It runs in god mode with access to anything and everything, and is completely hidden from even system mode software. With access to peripherals it can access the network and take remote commands, exfiltrate data, etc.
If you've ever used a server they often have a nice feature where you send an authenticated command to them on a certain port and get it to shutoff, turn on, reboot, whatever. This is run from the PSP on AMD processors.
Or maybe it has a remote backdoor put there by the NSA (or maybe just escrowed command and control keys) and ANY AMD device connected to the Internet can be controlled remotely by them at will. We have no way of knowing.
Or if TLAs don't worry you, then maybe the code running on it has a 0-day vulnerability and every server out there is vulnerable to remote code execution + the ultimate privilege escalation and we don't know about.
Or if that doesn't worry you, then maybe it'd at least be nice to be able to program it yourself and add new features, bug fixes, etc.
Those are all good reasons for requesting open source PSP code.
- zdkl 9y agoI don't mean to downplay this, but intel's doing it too with their management engine. Don't bash AMD for this specifically, at least now we-consumers have a realistic choice as to the purveyor of backdoors. It's... something?
- kobeya 9y agoAMD has traditionally been a more consumer-friendly vendor and there was some hope that they might differentiate themselves from intel in this way, giving people concerned about this at least one major vendor to source their parts from. Alas, that is not the case.
- quickben 9y agoAt least AMD doesn't make lan cards. The Intel combo is scarier.