Platform Embedded Security Technology Revealed
by Xiaoyu Ruan · first published 2014
13mentions
3recommended by
7HN commenters
2015–2023first – last mentioned
43% recommend57% neutral
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…security process. It's as secure as I thought it was; of course there are some vulnerabilities. The real issue to me is how effectively they mitigate it. [0] Highly recommended to learn about ME and AMT: Platform Embedded Security Technology Revealed: Safeguarding the Future of Computing with Intel Embedded Security and Management Engine by Xiaoyu Ruan, published by Apress (2014)
on “Escalation of Privilege Advisory” ↗…AMT and other security applications run. Since I have them at my fingertips, perhaps these will be of use: * By far the best place to learn about ME and AMT that I found, though it's a few years old: Platform Embedded Security Technology Revealed: Safeguarding the Future of Computing with Intel Embedded Security and Management Engine by Xiaoyu Ruan (security researcher with the Platform Engineering Group at Intel). Apress (2014) * Intel x86 considered harmful by Joanna Rutkowska, founder of Qubes (2015) http://invisiblethings.org/papers/2015/x86_harmful.pdf…
on “Escalation of Privilege Advisory” ↗Agreed, Platform Embedded Security Technology Revealed by Xiaoyu Ruan should be the first thing anyone reads about it. Much else will become irrelevant or be revealed as ignorant.
on “Technology preview: Private contact discovery for Signal” ↗…Obviously, that could be optional for owners of the computers who have other needs, but somehow it never works out that way ... EDIT If you really want to learn about it, save your time and go to the source: Platform Embedded Security Technology Revealed: Safeguarding the Future of Computing with Intel Embedded Security and Management Engine by Xiaoyu Ruan, a security researcher with the Platform Engineering Group at Intel
on “Disabling the Intel Management Engine” ↗…which UEFI adds many features, or dip switches. See this post for a description: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15445826 If you really want to learn about it, save your time and go to the source: Platform Embedded Security Technology Revealed: Safeguarding the Future of Computing with Intel Embedded Security and Management Engine by Xiaoyu Ruan, a security researcher with the Platform Engineering Group at Intel
on “Disabling the Intel Management Engine” ↗ME is a separate chip running alongside main CPU. You can't disable it via Windows services :) I recommend Platform Embedded Security Technology Revealed book [0] from designers and creators of ME for further information. [0]: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-4302-6572-6
on “Intel platforms from 2008 onwards have a remotely exploitable security hole” ↗…could load software anytime without you even noticing. AMD controls the PSP by using unique cryptographic keys which are burnt into each PSP. As the Intel IME engineer Xiaoyu Ruan wrote in his book "Platform Embedded Security Technology Revealed", the security architecture of the IME does not rely on security through obscurity, it relies much more on the burnt in cryptographic keys and it's architecture. The designers of the IME took into account…
on “AMD to consider coreboot/Libreboot support for Ryzen” ↗…obfuscation. It is a much deeper architectural problem with he PSP, than the fact that it holds a binary blob. The designer of the Intel Management Engine (the mother of the PSP) Xiaoyu Ruan wrote in his book "Platform Embedded Security Technology Revealed" in chapter 4: "By design, the firmware binary should not contain secrets, and hence it is not encrypted or obfuscated in any form. Note that lossless compression may be applied to the code. The firmware…
on “Petition for AMD to open-source the PSP (backdoor) in their chips” ↗In the semi-authoritative book on ME, Platform Embedded Security Technology Revealed by Xiaoyu Ruan of Intel, it says that only AMT can access the network (if I remember it correctly). The book is three years old, so maybe that's changed. Or maybe the functions you describe are part…
on “Publicly available information about Intel ME” ↗…hugely consequential, but Intel's product line is confusing enough without any help. AMT for years has been an application that runs on ME (unless something has changed). From the authoritative book, Platform Embedded Security Technology Revealed: Safeguarding the Future of Computing with Intel Embedded Security and Management Engine by Xiaoyu Ruan, a security researcher with the Platform Engineering Group at Intel (2014) The list of old inventions finding new applications in new domains goes on. The new applications benefit a much…
on “Purism Librem Laptops Completely Disable Intel’s Management Engine” ↗The book referred to by the article -- `Platform Embedded Security Technology Revealed` -- appears to be available for download at no cost right now[1]. Pricing error or not, I've just completed checkout without issue. For completeness, I have no affiliation or correction with Apress --…
on “Intel x86 considered harmful – survey of attacks against x86 over last 10 years” ↗Platform Embedded Security Technology Revealed gets mentioned a lot around IME PSP discussions and it's actually available as a (legitimately) free epub and pdf: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-4302-6572-6
on “AMD to consider coreboot/Libreboot support for Ryzen” ↗It's specific to the Intel GPU. Intel PAVP (Protected Audio-Video Path). See page 192 of Intel's "Platform Embedded Security Technology Revealed" (2014), https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-4302-6572-6
on “How the Xbox 360 knows if your hard drive is genuine” ↗