Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Sunday October 22 2017, @04:42PM   Printer-friendly
from the hold-my-beer,-I-wanna-be-free dept.

Purism Disables Intel ME On Its Privacy-Focused Librem Laptops

Purism, a startup that aims to develop privacy-focused devices, announced that it has now disabled Intel's Management Engine (ME). The company, and many privacy activists, believe that because Intel's ME is a black box to the user, it could hide backdoors from certain intelligence agencies. Alternatively, it may contain vulnerabilities that could even be unknown to Intel, but which might still be exploited by sophisticated attackers to bypass the operating system's security.

[...] The Librem laptops use Coreboot firmware, which is an open source alternative to BIOS and UEFI for Linux. The company said that using Coreboot is one of the primary reasons why they were able to disable Intel ME in the first place. Coreboot allowed them to dig down on how the processor interacts with this firmware and with the operating system.

Purism had already "neutralized" the Intel ME system on its Librem laptops, which essentially meant that the mission-critical components of Intel ME were removed. However, this could still cause some errors, because the Intel ME would still be "fighting" Coreboot's attempt to neutralize it. With the new method that disables it, the Intel ME can be shut down gracefully. Purism's laptops will continue to support both methods for extra security, just in case the Intel ME is able to "wake-up" somehow, after it's disabled.

[...] Both Librem 13 and Librem 15 laptop models will now ship with Intel ME disabled by default. Customers who have purchased the older Librem laptops will also receive an update that will disable Intel ME on their systems.

Related: Purism Exceeds $1 Million in Funding for Librem 5 Linux-Based Smartphone
How-To: Disabling the Intel Management Engine


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 4, Informative) by FatPhil on Sunday October 22 2017, @05:17PM (4 children)

    by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Sunday October 22 2017, @05:17PM (#585990) Homepage
    Alternativbely, you could click a link or two and satisfy yourself rather than just rant and gibber:
    https://puri.sm/posts/deep-dive-into-intel-me-disablement/
    --
    Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +2  
       Interesting=1, Informative=1, Total=2
    Extra 'Informative' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   4  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 22 2017, @05:24PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 22 2017, @05:24PM (#585992)

    The link provides nothing specific/concrete, just more mush nonsense.

  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday October 22 2017, @08:00PM (2 children)

    by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Sunday October 22 2017, @08:00PM (#586034) Homepage

    Intel == Jews, and Jews have no loyalty to the nations subject to Jew infestations.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 22 2017, @09:35PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 22 2017, @09:35PM (#586061)

      Just stop with the stupidity already. We get it - you're not bright and you're okay with it. Please don't inflict your ignorance on the rest of us.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 23 2017, @09:18AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 23 2017, @09:18AM (#586245)

      Don't be discouraged. Your freedom of speech is important, even if people disagree.

      OTOH you are right and you know it when people get all up in arms when you say something like that.