alt Hacker NewsThe paper X86 considered harmful was about how the BIOS / Intel management Engine (now also AMD PSP), are completely opaque.
If the lowest layer is hidden, proprietary, there are infinite vectors for state actors to include their desired backdoors.
The paper X86 considered harmful was about how the BIOS / Intel management Engine (now also AMD PSP), are completely opaque.
If the lowest layer is hidden, proprietary, there are infinite vectors for state actors to include their desired backdoors.
My understanding is that IME and PSP come more from the world of corporate compliance than anything else. In other words they exist for x86 because x86 gets deployed in corporate settings, and any ISA that attempts to occupy a similar niche will meet a similar fate.
(Compare ARM’s TrustZone, etc.)