Toshiba notebooks BIOS password backdoor

[rop () ITSX COM (Rop Gonggrijp)]

The dutch newspaper 'De Volkskrant' has reported about an individual named
Stefan Arts that has a password that will unlock all Toshiba notebook
computers that are locked with the BIOS password function. The password
itself was not published. Mention was made that Toshiba Netherlands has been
threatening to sue Arts if he exposed the password, saying that 'publication
would serve no purpose'. This single password exists for service staff to
help people that have forgotten their password and is known at Toshiba
service centers and dealerships all over the world. The dutch police told
Toshiba that they should ask him to 'name a price' when they were in contact
with him, so that he could be arrested for blackmail/extortion...

In the same article Toshiba is quoted as saying "we will not change this
unless the market demands it". Anyone with high-level contacts inside
Toshiba could maybe carefully confront them with reality.

Now all we're waiting for is for someone with a Toshiba to type 'debug' and
'strings' ...

Grtz,

--
Rop Gonggrijp <rop () itsx com>