Intel’s Active Management Technology is an exclusive technology that is used for remote-access monitoring and maintenance of laptops. The latest security bug was found in Intel’s Active Management Technology (AMT) which can be exploited by hackers to take complete control of a vulnerable device.
Intel is going through a tough phase for sure. After Meltdown and Spectre flaws, now researchers have discovered another vulnerability that affects millions of corporate laptops.
The latest security bug was found in Intel’s Active Management Technology (AMT) which can be exploited by hackers to take complete control of a vulnerable device ‘in a matter of few seconds’. The latest bug was discovered by security researcher Harry Sintonen who works for F-Secure.
Intel’s Active Management Technology is an exclusive technology that is used for remote-access monitoring and maintenance of laptops. However, this flaw is not similar to Meltdown and Spectre because it requires physical access to the vulnerable device.
This is still a critical flaw because the security researcher claims that hackers can compromise an affected system in less than a minute. Hackers after taking control of a vulnerable device can remotely control it by connecting to the same network.
The worst thing is that the flaw can be exploited even if other security measures are implemented like BIOS Password, TPM Pin, Antivirus, BitLocker. Harry Sintonen claims that BIOS password would automatically block malicious users. However, this flaw also opens the door to an alternative attack which provides hackers the remote access to the system.
Harry Sintonen explained;
The latest security bug was found in Intel’s Active Management Technology (AMT) which can be exploited by hackers to take complete control of a vulnerable device ‘in a matter of few seconds’. The latest bug was discovered by security researcher Harry Sintonen who works for F-Secure.
Intel’s Active Management Technology is an exclusive technology that is used for remote-access monitoring and maintenance of laptops. However, this flaw is not similar to Meltdown and Spectre because it requires physical access to the vulnerable device.
This is still a critical flaw because the security researcher claims that hackers can compromise an affected system in less than a minute. Hackers after taking control of a vulnerable device can remotely control it by connecting to the same network.
The worst thing is that the flaw can be exploited even if other security measures are implemented like BIOS Password, TPM Pin, Antivirus, BitLocker. Harry Sintonen claims that BIOS password would automatically block malicious users. However, this flaw also opens the door to an alternative attack which provides hackers the remote access to the system.
Harry Sintonen explained;
By selecting Intel’s Management Engine BIOS Extension (MEBx), they can log in using the default password “admin,” as this hasn’t most likely been changed by the user. By changing the default password, enabling remote access and setting AMT’s user opt-in to “None”, a quick-fingered cyber criminal has effectively compromised the machine. Now the attacker can gain access to the system remotely,
Hackers after gaining the full access can read or modify data, deploy malware on the device or any other evil things. Sintonen says “The attack is almost deceptively simple to enact, but it has incredible destructive potential. In practice, it can give a local attacker complete control over an individual’s work laptop, despite even the most extensive security measures
Intel is yet to comment on this new flaw. However, the researcher says to put up a strong password for AMT or to disable this feature completely. So, what do you think about this? Share your views in the comment box below.
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