Pentium Computers Vulnerable to Attack?

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.'"

Comments

Alternative Processors

[Chemkook]

Cool, another reason to switch to Sun or AMD.

Isn't it about time

[2names]

Seriously, isn't it about time that we made cracking/virus creation/etc crimes carry a very stiff sentence?

It's not just about recouping losses, it is about making the criminals - and that IS what these people are - fear the consequences of creating this type of thing. It seems like almost every day some new exploit is announced and we all have to check systems, hope for a quick patch, worry about exposure, yada yada yada. I'm fed up with it as I'm sure most other admins are.

Get caught creating a virus? 50 years in prison.
You run a botnet? 50 years in prison.
You cracked into the Defense Department? Life in prison.

We need to stop slapping these a-holes on the wrist and make the punishment severe enough to deter at least SOME of them.

I think Im covered

[night_flyer]

My Intel machine has Linux and my Windows Machines are AMDs