- Apr 21, 2016
- 4,385
As if the Meltdown and Spectre bugs weren’t enough trouble for Intel already, security researcher Harry Sintonen working for Finnish company F-Secure discovered another vulnerability that potentially affects millions of corporate laptops.
This time, the security bug exists in Intel’s Active Management Technology (AMT) and can be exploited by hackers to take complete control of a vulnerable device “in a matter of seconds,” as the researcher explains.
What’s important to note from the very beginning is that unlike Meltdown and Spectre, a successful exploit of this vulnerability (which doesn’t yet have a name) requires physical access to the device. But this is still a critical flaw, Sintonen points out, as a hacker can compromise a system in less than a minute and then remotely control it by connecting to the same network.
The vulnerability can be exploited even if other security measures are in place, including here a BIOS password, BitLocker, TPM Pin, or a traditional antivirus.
Read more: New Intel Security Vulnerability Discovered, Millions of Laptops Affected
This time, the security bug exists in Intel’s Active Management Technology (AMT) and can be exploited by hackers to take complete control of a vulnerable device “in a matter of seconds,” as the researcher explains.
What’s important to note from the very beginning is that unlike Meltdown and Spectre, a successful exploit of this vulnerability (which doesn’t yet have a name) requires physical access to the device. But this is still a critical flaw, Sintonen points out, as a hacker can compromise a system in less than a minute and then remotely control it by connecting to the same network.
The vulnerability can be exploited even if other security measures are in place, including here a BIOS password, BitLocker, TPM Pin, or a traditional antivirus.
Read more: New Intel Security Vulnerability Discovered, Millions of Laptops Affected