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Exploit Found to Brick Most HP and Compaq Laptops
Ian Lamont writes "A security researcher calling himself porkythepig has published attack code that can supposedly brick most HP and Compaq laptops. The exploit uses an ActiveX control in HP's Software Update. It would 'let an attacker corrupt Windows' kernel files, making the laptop unbootable, or with a little more effort, allow hacks that would result in a PC hijack or malware infection.' The same researcher last week outlined a batch of additional vulnerabilities in HP and Compaq laptops, for which HP later issued patches."
When did "brick" stop meaning that the device was rendered utterly useless forever, and change to mean that the device simply stopped working and needed to be repaired?
When idiots keep misusing the term brick, and then so-called knowledgeable editors of Slashdot reinforce it's usage, it is going against everything that Slashdot is supposed to be about, which is the spreading useful information. "Brick"ing came about from PSP hacking where the entire PSP could no longer be brought up at all, if particular hacks were made to the device. No amount of reinstalling would work, because it just wouldn't turn on, rendering it as useless as a brick.
Making a computer unbootable, is not "brick"ing it. Please. Stop the flow of misinformation and misusing of terms, and do not reinforce its usage.
This is NOT bricking. Whoever wrote this article description up is clueless. Actually if you look at the technical savvy of the average Slashdot user from 1999 until today you'll see that the technical knowledge has been dropping ever since about 2000. Slashdot users used to be way smarter and more experienced. Nowadays it seems like the average Slashdot user is just some computer hobbiest who runs Ubuntu when in past years Slashdot was full of developers, sysadmins and the like.
"Brick" will be used incorrectly, and it's meaning has changed. Don't waste time fighting it, we have lost. Just like 'Hacker' or a billion other phrases the media has misused.
Really, you're time is more valuable then that.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
"Bricking" a device means destroying hardware or destroying firmware in a way that cannot be recovered.
Merely destroying a Windows installation is not "bricking" a machine; Windows needs to be reinstalled from time to time anyway.
...buy a brick and put in a recovery disc to get Windows running on it? DAMNIT, there goes all the Christmas presents I was going to buy everyone I know.
Slashdot editors...please, for the love of all that is holy, the term "bricking" means "BRICK-LIKE"...any computer that can still compute (or anything that is still operational for that matter) is NOT BRICK-LIKE/a brick/bricked!
Anyone know where the complaint department is?
It's bricked to the average user who'll fall for this sort of crap.
FFS.. learn how to use the term!
I think you should include a copy of Knoppix, or the Ubuntu live CD, because -- remember -- the OS has now been trashed, so how else are you going to copy all of your data of now?
Free Software: Like love, it grows best when given away.