5 ms·
I don't understand why AMD isn't all over this as a product differentiator
by lallysingh 9y ago
I don't understand why AMD isn't all over this as a product differentiator
- alex_duf 9y agoBecause they probably are required to do the same under whatever legal jurisdiction they fall under.
- pas 9y agoWhat makes you say this?
- gsich 9y agoBecause this can be a useful feature. (Compare to ILO on servers)
- lottin 9y agoThey don't need to remove it, adding the possibility to turn it off should suffice.
- kogepathic 9y ago> adding the possibility to turn it off should suffice. How could Intel/AMD reasonably communicate this to customers and have it taken at face value? "Here's a flag to disable this black box we ship in every CPU. The product design and source code are proprietary, so please take our word for it that this flag disables everything." There was a blackhat talk on embedding malware in SMM and triggering it with a magic number written to a register to escalate the process privileges. [0] So there will always be suspicion of special triggers to re-enable the black box that you turned "off" I think there is a very slim chance that Intel and AMD can regain credibility when it concerns the IME/PSP. Especially after it emerged Intel created a special ME disabled mode intended for US agency customers. [1] [0] https://youtu.be/lR0nh-TdpVg https://youtu.be/lR0nh-TdpVg [1] https://m.hardocp.com/news/2017/08/30/how_to_disable_intel_me_courtesy_nsa/ https://m.hardocp.com/news/2017/08/30/how_to_disable_intel_m...
- gsich 9y agoTurning it off/on would have to be a jumper setting on the mainboard. BIOS won't do any good, as this is more a "software" setting. However, a jumper might have the same effect...
- kogepathic 9y agoHow would a jumper resolve fears that the black box is not totally disabled? You're referring to something deeply embedded in silicon and firmware. This isn't a separate device you can easily depower through a jumper. What about a laptop or tablet where there is no user accessible jumper?
- gsich 9y agoYou could if the developer wanted to. A jumper on a laptop is not impossible. But to be honest, I haven't seen one in my Thinkpads.
- adtac 9y agoEven better would be to offer two classes of products: one with an IME-like controller and one without. They could push the non-IME one to consumers and the IME one to server/enterprise customers. Just turning it off is hardly a guarantee that it'll stay off forever. Remove the entire component physically and I'll know it'll never be running in the background.
- dragonwriter 9y agoThey did that, it's just undocumented.
- jacquesm 9y agoBecause then someone might point at their PSP.