Intel has patched a remote execution big that dates back to 2008. Millions of Intel workstation and server chips have harbored a security flaw that can be potentially exploited to remotely control and... Intel patches remote execution that dates back to 2008
Only now, after all these generations, NSA and CIA finally allowed Intel to make it public and possibly offer solutions.
Agreed - just look at the phrasing of the article. It repeatedly explains how and why these are security risks but I didn't see anywhere they mentioned what these features were intended for (in a secure manner), nor are they apologetic for the security risks. At least they provided patches. It's interesting to me how deliberate some of it was. For example the statement "If AMT isn't provisioned, a logged-in user can still potentially exploit the bug to gain admin-level powers." but honestly, how many system admins know about what AMT is and/or know they can do something about it? So basically what they're saying is "despite that we [should have] known about this 'bug' for nearly a decade, we never told users to provision AMT nor supplied a patch to Windows to do it for you". They basically intentionally left it alone. This of course is assuming they're lying about just recently discovering this, but I've heard people complaining about the security flaws and backdoors of the Core i series a very long time ago.
I find this unlikely. I don't know exactly when this was implemented relative to Obama's inauguration, but whether Obama wanted/approved of this or not, the timing of the implementation would've been way too quick. The checks and balances of the government alone would have made the process take up too much time, but you also have to consider Intel's software and hardware engineers had to design and create these features. Together, I'm sure that likely would've taken at least a year to accomplish. However, I wouldn't be surprised if Obama was aware of this "bug", and, I don't think the ending of his presidency is related to this either. Just to clarify, I'm not being a tinfoil hat here, just speculating - I honestly couldn't care less if the CIA or NSA wants to spy on me.
At least! Intel Management Engine is a "good" feature. AMT is hardware and firmware technology for remote out-of-band management of personal computers, in order to monitor, maintain, update, upgrade, and repair them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Active_Management_Technology You try to escape from Windows 10 spy-bloat-ware,but you have IME in hardware from Nehalem to Kaby Lake. https://semiaccurate.com/2017/05/01/remote-security-exploit-2008-intel-platforms/ "The short version is that every Intel platform with AMT, ISM, and SBT from Nehalem in 2008 to Kaby Lake in 2017 has a remotely exploitable security hole in the ME (Management Engine) not CPU firmware. If this isn’t scary enough news, even if your machine doesn’t have SMT, ISM, or SBT provisioned, it is still vulnerable, just not over the network." Spoiler
Anyone posting suspicion of this kind of backdoor last week would have been labelled a tinfoil hat loony. Yet here we are.
