According to the translation I read, the security-related complaint in CSAC’s post is mainly about Intel Management Engine. And you know what? They’re right. It is a back door, and it is a security risk. Not a new or obscure one, though, and not just for China.
The risks imposed by Intel Management Engine and AMD’s Platform Security Processor have been known for several CPU generations. Obviously, a lot of us are unhappy about this and would like a way to disable them.
Instead, these components have been made more and more integrated with core system functionality, making the prospect of disabling them less and less practical. I fear it may take legislation to give us back control of the computers we supposedly own.
People online were making fun at my old PC still running an FX 8350. That one was released before all this. Who’s laughing now? I’m only partially kidding lol.
According to the translation I read, the security-related complaint in CSAC’s post is mainly about Intel Management Engine. And you know what? They’re right. It is a back door, and it is a security risk. Not a new or obscure one, though, and not just for China.
The risks imposed by Intel Management Engine and AMD’s Platform Security Processor have been known for several CPU generations. Obviously, a lot of us are unhappy about this and would like a way to disable them.
https://support.system76.com/articles/intel-me/
https://hackaday.com/2020/06/16/disable-intels-backdoor-on-modern-hardware/
Instead, these components have been made more and more integrated with core system functionality, making the prospect of disabling them less and less practical. I fear it may take legislation to give us back control of the computers we supposedly own.
People online were making fun at my old PC still running an FX 8350. That one was released before all this. Who’s laughing now? I’m only partially kidding lol.
Jump ship from x86 to something that isn’t hostile to users.
RISC-V
OpenPOWER
Well that happens to be what China is pushing for indeed.