Google Working To Remove MINIX-Based ME From Intel Platforms

["DAVID FARBER" <dfarber () me com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
> Date: November 10, 2017 at 12:02:25 PM EST
> To: nnsquad () nnsquad org
> Subject: [ NNSquad ] Google Working To Remove MINIX-Based ME From Intel Platforms
>
>
> Google Working To Remove MINIX-Based ME From Intel Platforms
>
> http://www.tomshardware.com/news/google-removing-minix-management-engine-intel,35876.html
>
>    Intel's Management Engine (ME) technology is built into almost
>    all modern Intel CPUs. At the Embedded Linux Conference, a
>    Google engineer named Ronald Minnich revealed that the ME is
>    actually running its own entire MINIX OS and that Google is
>    working on removing it. Due to MINIX's presence on every Intel
>    system, the barebones Unix-like OS is the most widely deployed
>    operating system in the world ... What's concerning Google is
>    the complexity of the ME. Public interest in the subject piqued
>    earlier this year when a vulnerability was discovered in Intel's
>    Active Management Technology (AMT), but that's just a software
>    that runs on ME--ME is actually an entire OS.  Minnich's
>    presentation touched on his team's discovery that the OS in
>    question is a closed version of the open-source MINIX OS. The
>    real focus, though, is what's in it and the consequences.
>    According the Minnich, that list includes web server
>    capabilities, a file system, drivers for disk and USB access,
>    and, possibly, some hardware DRM-related capabilities. It's not
>    known if all this code is explicitly included for current or
>    future ME capabilities, or if it's because Intel simply saw more
>    potential value in keeping rather than removing it.
>
> - - -
>
> --Lauren--
> Lauren Weinstein (lauren () vortex com): https://www.vortex.com/lauren 
> Lauren's Blog: https://lauren.vortex.com
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