Category: hardware

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Another Branch Prediction Attack

Posted on By infossl
academicpapers, hardware, intel, Security technology, sidechannelattacks, vulnerabilities

When Spectre and Meltdown were first announced earlier this year, pretty much everyone predicted that there would be many more attacks targeting branch prediction in microprocessors. Here’s another one: In the new attack, an attacker primes the PHT and running branch instructions so that the PHT will always assume a particular branch is taken or … Read More “Another Branch Prediction Attack” »

Adding Backdoors at the Chip Level

Posted on By infossl
academicpapers, backdoors, computersecurity, hardware, malware, Security technology

Interesting research into undetectably adding backdoors into computer chips during manufacture: “Stealthy dopant-level hardware Trojans: extended version,” also available here: Abstract: In recent years, hardware Trojans have drawn the attention of governments and industry as well as the scientific community. One of the main concerns is that integrated circuits, e.g., for military or critical-infrastructure applications, … Read More “Adding Backdoors at the Chip Level” »

Spectre and Meltdown Attacks

Posted on By infossl
cloudcomputing, hardware, intel, patching, Security technology, sidechannelattacks

After a week or so of rumors, everyone is now reporting about the Spectre and Meltdown attacks against pretty much every modern processor out there. These are side-channel attacks where one process can spy on other processes. They affect computers where an untrusted browser window can execute code, phones that have multiple apps running at … Read More “Spectre and Meltdown Attacks” »

Acoustical Attacks against Hard Drives

Posted on By infossl
academicpapers, denialofservice, hardware, Security technology

Interesting destructive attack: “Acoustic Denial of Service Attacks on HDDs“: Abstract: Among storage components, hard disk drives (HDDs) have become the most commonly-used type of non-volatile storage due to their recent technological advances, including, enhanced energy efficacy and significantly-improved areal density. Such advances in HDDs have made them an inevitable part of numerous computing systems, … Read More “Acoustical Attacks against Hard Drives” »

A Hardware Privacy Monitor for iPhones

Posted on By infossl
cellphones, hardware, iphone, phones, privacy, Security technology, surveillance

Andrew “bunnie” Huang and Edward Snowden have designed a hardware device that attaches to an iPhone and monitors it for malicious surveillance activities, even in instances where the phone’s operating system has been compromised. They call it an Introspection Engine, and their use model is a journalist who is concerned about government surveillance: Our introspection … Read More “A Hardware Privacy Monitor for iPhones” »

Hacking a Phone Through a Replacement Touchscreen

Posted on By infossl
computersecurity, hardware, keylogging, malware, phones, Security technology, spyware

Researchers demonstrated a really clever hack: they hid malware in a replacement smart phone screen. The idea is that you would naively bring your smart phone in for repair, and the repair shop would install this malicious screen without your knowledge. The malware is hidden in touchscreen controller software, which is trusted by the phone. … Read More “Hacking a Phone Through a Replacement Touchscreen” »

Hacking Attack Causes Physical Damage at German Steel Mill

Posted on By infossl
cyberattack, germany, hacking, hardware, ics, infrastructure, phishing, Security technology

This sort of thing is still very rare, but I fear it will become more common: …hackers had struck an unnamed steel mill in Germany. They did so by manipulating and disrupting control systems to such a degree that a blast furnace could not be properly shut down, resulting in “massive” — though unspecified — … Read More “Hacking Attack Causes Physical Damage at German Steel Mill” »