Secret 3G Radio in Every Intel vPro CPU Could Steal Your Ideas at Any Time

[trumad]

We wonder if anyone expected this, but we suppose Intel had to drop a bomb at some point. And what better way to secure your spot on the enterprise 2-in-1 laptop, tablet and mobile workstation market, than by giving all of those PCs 3G support?

Hilariously enough, Intel has created one of the most sought after technologies without letting anyone know about it. Basically, all Intel vPro CPUs (which include new mobile Core i5 and Core i7 chips) have an undocumented 3G chip inside. That chip is visible to the 3G network, even when the PC is not powered on.

Freelancer Jim Stone has just discovered the secret (or so he says), and according to him, the 3Gis part of a second physical processor embedded within the main one. Said second CPU has its own embedded operating system and can be woken up at any time because the “phantom” power of the system is always there to draw upon.

In other words, the secret 3G chip can act as a backdoor, complete with wake-on-LAN and wake-on-mobile. Which is to say, the computer can be turned on remotely through this undocumented 3G radio.

Intel actually embedded the 3G radio chip in order to enable its Anti Theft 3.0 technology. And since that technology is found on every Core i3/i5/i7 CPU after Sandy Bridge, that means a lot of CPUs, not just new vPro, might have a secret 3G connection nobody knew about until now.

Sadly, Jim Stone doesn't actually provide any evidence for this, so we can either take him at his word or not think about any of this, seeing as how we can't really do anything about it even if it's true. On the one hand, it might all be fake.

On the other hand, Intel may very well have integrated a secret ARM chip with always-on 3G on its vPro chips, but no one knows because the NSA forbid the disclosure of this info in order to have a backdoor into every computer. For securityreasons of course.
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Secret-3G-Radio-in-Every-Intel-vPro-CPU-Could-Steal-Your-Ideas-at-Any-Time-385194.shtml#!

[krispos42]

1. I'm getting happier and happier my 9-year-old PC still runs well.

Does AMD do the same thing?

[Jackpine Radical]

2. It just never fuckin' ends, does it?

Every day we discover another incursion into our privacy, another link between government and corporate surveillance.

Orwell's predictions seem so quaintly inadequate…

[trumad]

3. Yeah Jack--- this is pretty stunning.

a secret imbedded 3g chip. That sounds so hackable.

[Jackpine Radical]

4. I'm not enough of a geek to really appreciate the full potential,

but can easily imagine it capturing & transmitting keystrokes even when you're offline and, for all I know, functioning as a radio bug at any time someone wants to hear what's going on around the machine.

[trumad]

5. Well---I'm in the network security business and this has created a buzz.

[seveneyes]

6. Now this is a clear definition of Odious

rather than the made up ODS nonsense.

[liberal N proud]

7. I guess if my PC turns on unexpectedly, I can suspect this.

[Dr Hobbitstein]

8. Of course

This is all speculation as Jim Stone has provided zero evidence to support his claim. And phantom power will only last so long. Data transmission and receiving uses a lot of power. If your mobile device is left unplugged and the battery drains, it won't have any juice to do anything else...

[TroglodyteScholar]

9. "If...the battery drains..."

Well, now we know how we must protect ourselves....

[Dr Hobbitstein]

10. Protect yourself from unsubstantiated claims?

The article doesn't even have a link to who this "freelancer" named Stone is... The article clearly states there is zero evidence. You can decide if you want they heavy duty tinfoil or not.

[TroglodyteScholar]

11. Guess you couldn't see my eyebrows...

[Dr Hobbitstein]

13. Sorry...

I was using my boss' iPad when I read that. It didn't show the emoticon. My mistake!

[trumad]

15. Tons of Google info about this...

Here's one for instance.

http://www.techspot.com/news/41643-intels-sandy-bridge-processors-have-a-remote-kill-switch.html

[Dr Hobbitstein]

17. That's actually something different

that has been known (since 2010, when Intel released the processors and advertised the kill switch). That is mentioned in the article. The Sandy Bridge kill switch is used for anti-theft purposes. However, the claims about the 3G radio (from an article just a couple days ago) that can steal info has only been stated by a guy named Jim Stone, who is some sort of "freelancer" (in what field, we are not told). He provides zero proof for his claim.

[trumad]

19. The point is...

Can it be done. I have many friends in the Net Sec business who say it can.

[Dr Hobbitstein]

18. Also, here is Jim Stone...

http://www.jimstonefreelance.com/

Not exactly what I would call a trustworthy news source... Here's a stellar headline from his page: "Deep Water Horizon likely destroyed by space based laser".

[Vashta Nerada]

12. I'm a scientist so I need to see evidence.

I'll withhold the knee-jerk reaction.

[trumad]

14. Uh again---I'm in the business and there is a buzz about this subject.

An easy Google search verifies that there is a 3g chip.

http://www.techspot.com/news/41643-intels-sandy-bridge-processors-have-a-remote-kill-switch.html

[Vashta Nerada]

16. The link would've been nice in the OP.

The burden of proof was on you, not me.

The reply would've been great without the snark.

[trumad]

20. Snark?

I gave you a link in the Op. You don't believe the link---go investigate