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I think you may be confused about what "security through obscurity" means. The security from these coprocessors is not from obscurity but is part of the design.
by readams 5y ago
I think you may be confused about what "security through obscurity" means. The security from these coprocessors is not from obscurity but is part of the design.
- southerntofu 5y agoI like that we can disable Intel ME entirely via undocumented instructions. The fact that whether it's running at all and whatever computation is running depends on hiding certain x86 instructions and the code/memory of the security module is what i refer to "security by obscurity". If everything is taken into the design, great! Just open up the design and let us check. Also, if we can't change/upgrade the firmware without cooperation from Intel and motherboard manufacturers, how are we supposed to operate such hardware after Intel/others claims EOL? Or after those corporations die? I'm not exactly a fan of hardware tokens like Yubikeys but at the very least the design is clear/open. You know the protocol and can probe things around. Those things i don't call security by obscurity (unless your threat model involves someone doing electronics RE on your key). And if a flaw is found with the design, "just" get a new key no need to throw away your entire motherboard. (I still find environmental waste to be a major problem with hardware tokens but that's a discussion for another day)