Pentium Computers Vulnerable to Attack? 227
An anonymous reader writes "One of the latest security scares is coming from security experts at CanSecWest/core '06 in the form of a possible hardware-specific attack. The attack is based on the built-in procedure that Pentium based chips use when they overheat. From the article: 'When the processor begins to overheat or encounters other conditions that could threaten the motherboard, the computer interrupts its normal operation, momentarily freezes and stores its activity, said Loïc Duflot, a computer security specialist for the French government's Secretary General for National Defense information technology laboratory. Cyberattackers can take over a computer by appropriating that safeguard to make the machine interrupt operations and enter System Management Mode, Duflot said. Attackers then enter the System Management RAM and replace the default emergency-response software with custom software that, when run, will give them full administrative privileges.'"
the sky is falling (Score:5, Funny)
Security Experts Untie! (Score:5, Funny)
Good Times (Score:5, Funny)
Then a few years later, Microsoft brought us Outlook with automatic attachment opening, making the first part possible, and now Intel has given us the potential for the second part.
Good Times apparently wasn't a hoax, it was just ahead of its times.
Sensationalist (Score:5, Funny)
Along a similar vein, I have developed a martial art where I can kill anyone in one blow. It requires that my opponent is already tied-up, asleep, and I have a gun.
In other news... (Score:5, Funny)
Seriously, if they have access then you are screwed anyways...
- Andrew
Good thing macs aren't vulnerable. (Score:5, Funny)
I'm Safe (Score:2, Funny)
Not only do you receive a convenient olfactory signal to alert you to the situation, but you also avoid security breaches brought on by overly complex thermal management.
All Pentiums also vulnerable to DoS (Score:5, Funny)
Pentium based machines are also vulnerable to a denial of service attack from a hacker with physical access to the machine and in the possession of a large axe. Should the attacker be wielding a pair of axes (one in each hand) then the attack would constitute a distributed denial of service.
Re:Aren't you already screwed? (Score:5, Funny)