Unfortunately, AMD has their PSP system which is essentially the same thing as ME. You have to go back to Bulldozer to be free of this crap.

https://libreboot.org/faq.html#intel

https://libreboot.org/faq.html#amd

A lot of that information was previously disclosed by whistle blowers. I want to believe that a team member would actually step forward like that but the post smells too much like a LARP.

Take the abacus pill

I believe that "Odin" also happens to be the name of a leaked tool to flash the Samsung Galaxy phone firmware. So "Odin's Eye" might be a play on that.

I find it interesting how people discuss the active sub-kernel control Intel's ME gives into processors, yet fail to point out that for the most part a properly configured deny/deny with exceptions firewall, paired with telemetry blocking software can still make an Intel processor reasonably "safe".

With that said, the hits to their performance due to things like Spectre and Meltdown put Intel leagues beyond AMD from the base ability alone, so by all means don't by Intel for cost:performance.

Yeah, this was the tipping point for me, it's only AMD now on out.

I've heard about this kind of thing for years from all kinds of insiders. Thats why everyone of them stressed having off-line computers that NEVER sees an Internet connection ..I guess if youre super paranoid, or have something worth hiding you should also keep it in a box that blocks out any sort of wireless signal.

Sweet! Complimentary RISC-V processor! Can't wait to use it!

So you can access the processor, can you access the drive? Yaknow where the information is stored? What do you do about the CAC card? You still need to get on the network. Essentially all Government computers are just access points. You need a CAC (Common Access Card) aka Controlled access... to access the network. AND which network within the system do you access. Then there are firewalls inplace so this exact issue does not happen.

Posts like these are fine for scaring the shit out of the normies. Government IT isn't as loose as you would think.

So Intel works for the intelligence agencies, and windows allows them to look inside your computer, as if through a window? It's all there in the names, people should have figured it out years ago.

As of December 2017, AMD has put the option into their AGESA (AMD Generic Encapsulated Software Architecture) to disable the PSP (platform secure processor -- AMD's version of the IME -- Intel Management Engine) from doing much other than booting the CPU.

AMD Allows Disabling PSP Secure Processor with Latest AGESA

Of course, if that option does what it says, is all a part of the "chain of trust".

-- Do you trust your firewall to actually block the IP addresses and ports you specify, or could your firewall contain code to open a backdoor where a certain packet sequence enables a connection through your firewall from a "bad party" ?

-- Do you trust your compiler to actually compile your code as is without injecting a backdoor?

-- Do you trust your CPU to not inject a backdoor into a piece of code it recognizes?

-- Do you trust your hardware manufacturer to actually disable their management engine, when BIOS/UEFI switch to disable is thrown?

Unless you hand assemble your CPU and your software code, at some point you are trusting something in the chain of trust.

That said: Intel's IME has been shown time and again to be full of trivial security vulnerabilities. Avoid Intel like the plague.

2017-November: WIRED.COM - Intel Management Engine Flaws Leave Millions of PCs Exposed

2017-December: THEREGISTER.CO.UK - Security, Intel Management Engine pwned by buffer overflow

2018-July: TOMSHARDWARE.COM - Intel Discloses New Management Engine Bugs

2018-September: ZDNET.COM - Security flaw can leak Intel ME encryption keys

So pentiums don't have it?

As if AMD isn't guilty of the same

What does ME stand for?

Are you able to produce guarantees that AMD does not work with the intelligence community and does not build the same holes in it's hardware?

Ryzen master race.

People are saying AMD is compromised too. I don't doubt it.

A chip fab costs about a billion dollars. As long the upfront capital costs are that much production will be centralized among a few manufacturers. As long production is centralized then bad actors with enough political power WILL compromise those operations.

Doesn't matter if it's USA, China, or Great Britain. Someone is getting a back door installed.

So is it possible to lower the cost of building a chip fab operation? Ideally you could print i7s (with all the back doors removed) in your garage for $5k but even getting the cost below five million dollars would be huge.

Bottom line is that as long as chip fabs are massively expensive this problem won't go away.

Yeah, well, my dad works at nintendo and he said this is not true.