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After CIA Leak, Intel Security Releases Detection Tool for EFI Rootkits

posted by Fnord666 on Sunday March 12 2017, @07:08AM   Printer-friendly
from the responded-quickly dept.

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for chromas

Intel Security has released a tool that allows users to check if their computer's low-level system firmware has been modified and contains unauthorized code.

The release comes after CIA documents leaked Tuesday revealed that the agency has developed EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface) rootkits for Apple's Macbooks. A rootkit is a malicious program that runs with high privileges -- typically in the kernel -- and hides the existence of other malicious components and activities.

The documents from CIA's Embedded Development Branch (EDB) mention an OS X "implant" called DerStarke that includes a kernel code injection module dubbed Bokor and an EFI persistence module called DarkMatter.

EFI, also known as UEFI (Unified EFI), is the low-level firmware that runs before the operating system and initializes the various hardware components during the system boot process. It's the replacement for the older and much more basic BIOS in modern computers and resembles a mini operating system. It can have hundreds of "programs" for different functions implemented as executable binaries.

A malicious program hidden inside the EFI can inject malicious code into the OS kernel and can restore any malware that has been removed from the computer. This allows rootkits to survive major system updates and even reinstallations.

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/3179348/security/after-cia-leak-intel-security-releases-detection-tool-for-efi-rootkits.html

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  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 12 2017, @09:44AM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 12 2017, @09:44AM (#477987)

    > because of the mental breakdown of the author and their toxic hate campaign against the GNU project and the Free Software Foundation.

    best way to fight free software is to infiltrate its projects and slow them down or orient them in wrong directions. When petty technical arguments, or removal of features, or push for code of conduct stuff surface, you better get a fork ready and closely examine the backlog of contributions from the problematic parties.

    I recall a project who stalled because a contributor sent a lot of code who worked but was too obscure to be modified and the author disappeared. What is the rationale for that, different from willful EEE?

    And for live attempts at disruption, see devuan mailing list.

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  • (Score: 3, Funny) by FatPhil on Sunday March 12 2017, @11:19AM (3 children)

    by FatPhil (863) <reversethis-{if.fdsa} {ta} {tnelyos-cp}> on Sunday March 12 2017, @11:19AM (#478009) Homepage
    [in the context of Francis/Leah Rowe*]

    "orient them in wrong direction"

    I see what you did there

    [* wouldn't "Frances" have been a *way* simpler name change for everyone?]
    --
    Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves

    • (Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Sunday March 12 2017, @01:57PM (2 children)

      by Scruffy Beard 2 (6030) on Sunday March 12 2017, @01:57PM (#478041)

      Trans people generally hate their "dead name", so choose a completely different one.

      • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday March 13 2017, @10:50AM (1 child)

        by FatPhil (863) <reversethis-{if.fdsa} {ta} {tnelyos-cp}> on Monday March 13 2017, @10:50AM (#478355) Homepage
        I find that irrational, but it's not my problem. In the olden days (people born pre-/peri-war) it was quite common to keep the initial the same (e.g. Walter->Wendy Carlos, David->Dee Palmer), but I guess nowadays it's now taking the opportunity to claim your own identity in its entirity and ditch everything that was externally imposed upon you. Personally, the name I didn't give myself simply isn't that much of an issue for me, and if the "Ph" in my name caused frequent communications problems where I now live - where they speak a phonetic language, and just occasionally I have been called "Pahil" - I'd change my name at the drop of a hat (to "Filip", to keep things easy), my name simply isn't that important a thing to me I'm not that attached to it. So I don't see why people should be so repulsed by their perfectly acceptable names either.
        --
        Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves

        • (Score: 1) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Monday March 13 2017, @04:46PM

          by Scruffy Beard 2 (6030) on Monday March 13 2017, @04:46PM (#478495)

          It may depend how much baggage it attached to the name as well. If your original family disowns you, you are going to be more aggressive in asserting your own identity. (I am only intimately familiar with trans people where this is the case.) I think I know of at least one person who was planning on keeping their initials, but I may have ruined that for them by "outing" them (we have not spoken since).