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Researchers discover potentially catastrophic exploit present in AMD chips for decades
(www.engadget.com)
this post was submitted on 10 Aug 2024
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I'm thinking there are more things like this, and maybe even some are intentionally put in to please government actors. Intels management engine is like a small computer inside the computer, and amd has something simular. This computer can work completely independent of what the main computer does and has network access.
Difference is that Intel's Management engine can be controlled via the network whereas AMD's platform security processor is local-only.
The much bigger problem is Microsoft's Pluton coprocessor, which they plan on making mandatory for using windows in the future.
I didn't know amd is local only, that's amazing. Another huge reason to go for amd.
And yeah, Pluton... I don't use windows anymore and I encourage everyone to switch to Linux. But only a few people care about their privacy and not being tracked.
It used to be a major pro-AMD reason for me too, but it's become irrelevant since pluton. Weird thing is, pluton was announced with much fanfare for Ryzen 6000, but I've not heard about it since.
Edit: I just read up on this topic again and found out that both purism and system76 disable the Intel ME in all their products (don't know if all of it is disabled, since it normally controls a lot of necessary components)
Edit 2: they can either remove most of its code from the flash, or use a disabling system that Intel had literally developed for the NSA.