Debugging mechanism in Intel CPUs allows seizing control via USB port
As much as people have tried to make it otherwise, I've long been a believer in the "physical access = game over" line of thinking. Not letting anything untrusted into USB ports is one of the effective defenses against this.<p><i>In their concluding remarks, the researchers proposed a number of protective measures based on use of Intel's BootGuard feature and forbidding activation of the debugging interface.</i><p>Let's not scare ourselves too much, lest we end up in Stallman's debuggers-are-controlled-munitions dystopia. ( <a href="https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.en.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.en.html</a> )