Platform Embedded Security Technology Revealed : Safeguarding the Future of Computing with Intel Embedded Security and Management Engine

CHAPTER 4

The Engine: Safeguarding Itself before Safeguarding Others

To be a blacksmith, you must be tough yourself.

—Old Chinese Proverb

Alexander Tereshkin and Rafal Wojtczuk, from the Invisible Things Labs of Poland, introduced the concept of “Ring -3 rootkit” at the 2009 Black Hat conference in Las Vegas.¹  They presented an attack against host memory through a rootkit installed on Intel’s management engine. Audiences, many hearing about the management engine for the first time, were impressed by the sophisticated attack. People asked: If the embedded system itself is buggy, how could users trust it to safeguard users’ valuable assets? ...