Re: pentium bug/microprocessor design

[Jonathan Wienke <JonWienk@ix.netcom.com>]

At 06:00 PM 11/9/97 -0800, Vladimir Z. Nuri wrote:
>there are new schemes in the
>works by which Intel etc. are trying to deal with this,
>including a remarkable scheme in which new microcode
>can be downloaded to the chip. it also involves encryption
>in which one needs to know the encryption mechanism for
>the chip to accept the new instructions. apparently it's
>done in such a way that no one except those who know the
>encryption can successfully alter the chip.

Of course, this means that your least favorite TLA can introduce whatever
"features" they desire on your machine if they can install a Trojan horse
or virus on it...any security through obscurity scheme should be assumed to
be known by the government.



Jonathan Wienke

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