3 ms·
Minus an intentionally bad hardware design, I struggle to imagine how a software version of the idea could ever be more secure than a power line hard-wired to a
by 3eb7988a1663 7mo ago
Minus an intentionally bad hardware design, I struggle to imagine how a software version of the idea could ever be more secure than a power line hard-wired to an LED.
- chongli 7mo agoYou build it directly into the GPU firmware and don't give the operating system any access to it.
- 3eb7988a1663 7mo agoThat is still a blackbox code implementation which could be updated at any time. I trust wires, not programmers.
- s3p 7mo agoI mean, we don't really have any indication that the MacBook camera light is hard wired into anything.
- 3eb7988a1663 7mo agoFor those who are interested, you can disassemble/image the assembly and see there is no funny business. People have done it. If there is something more complex than a power line, something is afoot. I have no way of interrogating some GPU firmware.
- chongli 7mo agoThe firmware could be flashed to the device in factory and then write-protected by burning a fuse in the circuit.
- saagarjha 7mo agoThis is not the case.
- solarkraft 7mo agoI still don’t see how this could be more secure than connecting the LED to the camera’s power lines.
- throw0101d 7mo ago> You build it directly into the GPU firmware and don't give the operating system any access to it. State-level actors have been know to fiddle with firmware, specifically in the past for hard drives: * https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S135348581530012X https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S13534... * https://www.wired.com/2015/02/nsa-firmware-hacking/ https://www.wired.com/2015/02/nsa-firmware-hacking/ I could see how cameras and microphones could be enticing targets.