Security News
One such feature is called Intel Total Memory Encryption, which Intel said helps ensure that all memory accessed from the CPU is encrypted - such as customer credentials, encryption keys and other IP or personal information on the external memory bus. The Intel Platform Firmware Resilience will be part of the Xeon Scalable platform, which Intel claims will help protect against platform firmware attacks by detecting them before they can compromise or disable the machine.
Intel this week released security patches to address a critical vulnerability in Active Management Technology and Intel Standard Manageability. The bug, which Intel calls improper buffer restrictions in network subsystems, could be abused by unauthorized users to escalate privileges via network access in provisioned AMT and ISM versions before 11.8.79, 11.12.79, 11.22.79, 12.0.68 and 14.0.39.
Researchers have discovered several potentially serious vulnerabilities affecting monitoring, cooling and power distribution products made by Germany-based Rittal. According to Austria-based cybersecurity company SEC Consult, Rittal's CMC III industrial and IT monitoring system, LCP CW cooling system, and the entire portfolio of power distribution units are impacted by six types of vulnerabilities.
Those running VMWare guest machines on Mac will want to update their software to get a security fix for VMware Tools. Earlier this month, Microsoft dropped its usual boatload of Patch Tuesday updates, sans a set for Office for Mac.
It's possible to extract data from a computer via its Thunderbolt port - once you've got the case off, plugged in a flash programmer, and reprogrammed the controller's firmware to grant access. A miscreant would need to have physical access to the machine long enough to unscrew the case, attach an SPI flash programmer with an SOP8 clip to rewrite the Thunderbolt port controller's firmware to unlock access, and then attach a device to the interface to copy data via PCIe and DMA through the port, and then, if necessary, flash back the original firmware and fit the computer back together.
That said, many organizations are still suffering from firmware security blind spots that prevent them from adequately protecting systems and data. The security of firmware running on the devices we use every day has been a novel focus point for researchers across the security community.
Eclypsium said on Monday that, despite years of warnings from experts - and examples of rare in-the-wild attacks, such as the NSA's hard drive implant - devices continue to accept unsigned firmware. The infosec biz said a miscreant able to alter the firmware on a system - such as by intercepting or vandalizing firmware downloads, or meddling with a device using malware or as a rogue user - can do so to insert backdoors and spyware undetected, due to the lack of cryptographic checks and validations of the low-level software.
Eclypsium said on Monday that, despite years of warnings from experts - and examples of rare in-the-wild attacks, such as the NSA's hard drive implant - devices continue to accept unsigned firmware. The infosec biz said a miscreant able to alter the firmware on a system - such as by intercepting or vandalizing firmware downloads, or meddling with a device using malware or as a rogue user - can do so to insert backdoors and spyware undetected, due to the lack of cryptographic checks and validations of the low-level software.
Unsigned firmware in WiFi adapters, USB hubs, trackpads, and other devices can be compromised by hackers, says enterprise firmware security company Eclypsium in a new report. A report released Tuesday by Eclypsium details the risks involved in using devices with unsigned firmware.
Peripheral devices with unsigned firmware can expose Windows and Linux machines to attacks, allowing hackers to install stealthy and persistent malware, steal valuable information, or take control of a computer. Researchers at firmware security company Eclypsium have discovered that many peripheral device manufacturers have not implemented checks to ensure that the firmware running on their products comes from a trusted source.