

#badBIOS (and lotsa paranoia, plus fireworks) - ctoth
http://kabelmast.wordpress.com/2013/10/23/badbios-and-lotsa-paranoia-plus-fireworks/

======
j_s
At first, a summary of tweets from a security researcher investigating a virus
that spreads using USB keys.

~~~
pudquick
Since you're actually commenting on this second post on the same subject, I'll
repeat my observation that the author of the #badBIOS posts seems deranged.

Why is something like this which is obviously not news on HN?

\----

( My commentary on:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6620788](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6620788)
)

Why is this getting votes here when the same person posts things like this:

[https://plus.google.com/103470457057356043365/posts/3reWRqDM...](https://plus.google.com/103470457057356043365/posts/3reWRqDMbn4)

 _" So it turns out that annoying high frequency whine in my soundsystem isn't
crappy electrical noise that has been plaguing my wiring for years. It is
actually high frequency ultrasonic transmissions that malware has been using
to communicate to airgapped computers [...]"_

This person is either mentally unbalanced or they're intentionally trying to
troll the paranoid.

Case in point regarding this specific post:

 _" The tell is still that #badBIOS systems refuse to boot CDs (this is across
all oses, including my Macs)"_

Macs don't have BIOS - they have a BIOS emulation / compatibility layer. They
run on EFI. Additionally, there's evidence that Macs contain a hardware Boot
ROM which pre-boots before EFI and verifies the firmware cryptographic
signature is valid. About the best attack that's been done so far is a
malicious dongle that needs to stay connected to the machine during boot. If
you'd like more information about how difficult it is to re-program Mac EFI
without Apple's secret signing keys, by all means read here:
[http://ho.ax/De_Mysteriis_Dom_Jobsivs_Black_Hat_Paper.pdf](http://ho.ax/De_Mysteriis_Dom_Jobsivs_Black_Hat_Paper.pdf)

The only value in reading this submission is science fiction entertainment or
research into the possible mental problems of the author.

------
usmcnapier
Please don't caps like this, thanks.

