Schneier on Security A blog covering security and security
technology. « Power and the Internet | | Jared Diamond on Common
Risks » January 31, 2013 The Eavesdropping System in Your
Computer Dan Farmer has an interesting paper (long version here;
short version here) discussing the Baseboard Management
Controller on your computer's motherboard: The BMC is an
embedded computer found on most server motherboards made in the
last 10 or 15 years. Often running Linux, the BMC's CPU, memory,
storage, and network run independently. It runs Intel's IPMI
out-of-band systems management protocol alongside network
services (web, telnet, VNC, SMTP, etc.) to help manage, debug,
monitor, reboot, and roll out servers, virtual systems, and
supercomputers. Vendors frequently add features and rebrand
OEM'd BMCs: Dell has iDRAC, Hewlett Packard iLO, IBM calls
theirs IMM2, etc. It is popular because it helps raise
efficiency and lower costs associated with availability,
personnel, scaling, power, cooling, and more. To do its magic,