Intel's x86 CPU-in-a-CPU and Its Security Risks

[DrQ]

BoingBoing.net

"Recent Intel x86 processors implement a secret, powerful control mechanism that runs on a separate chip that no one is allowed to audit or examine. When these are eventually compromised, they'll expose all affected systems to nearly unkillable, undetectable rootkit attacks. I've made it my mission to open up this system and make free, open replacements, before it's too late."

...

"So in conclusion, Intel has so far stopped anyone from tinkering with ME firmware in practice, and there is no way to trust the code running on your ME because it's proprietary. So we are back to the days of the Sony Playstation, but for general purpose computers based on Intel x86. Matters only get worse now that Intel has squeezed a whole system into a chip, SoCs. We have no physical separation between the components that we can trust and the untrusted ME components, so we can't even cut them off the mainboard anymore."