The Google H1 Fritz Chip

Post by pgeorgi » Tue, Jun 12, 2018, 2:44 PM UTC

asciilifeform wrote: post #29

pgeorgi wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> typically by inhibiting attempts to install modified firmware This also inhibits attempts by malicious third parties to install modified firmware on your machines. For Chromebooks we traditionally tried to find a middle route: locked down by default, since most people care more about nobody tampering with their device than about the ability to do so themselves. For the others, there's dev mode (easy to get at, but…

Why lie to the public ? Pulling the battery does enable rewrite, by the user, of the AP ROM, but not the Cr50 -- the latter remains Tivoized. And every owner of this machine can verify this with his own hands, it is not even necessary to build the USB debug cable. The Cr50 accepts firmware updates at all times, but only when signed with Google's RSA key.

Post by pgeorgi » Tue, Jun 12, 2018, 4:01 PM UTC

asciilifeform wrote: post #32

pgeorgi wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why lie to the public? I don't, and TBH I don't find your writing style (of which this is an example) very engaging. Cr50 is a replacement for the old TPM. It has approximately the same constraints as the Infineon TPM used in the past: firmware updateable, but not for you. [edit to add: would a mechanism to disable the update mechanisms, at the price of "no warranty" since RMA becomes impossible be acceptable to yo…

My current alternative appears to be to desolder the Cr50 and fabricate harmless replacements (to e.g. init 3.3v rail). So naturally voids warranties. > firmware updateable, but not for you Finally, honesty. It's a Tivo.

Post by Shank » Tue, Jun 12, 2018, 6:53 PM UTC

asciilifeform wrote: post #17

Shank wrote: post #9

Fact: The Snowden leaks confirmed the long suspicion that governments work to backdoor software and hardware at an insane level. Related fact: Governments also try crazy hard to bust into insecure, vulnerable devices to compromise them. So we have this really annoying catch 22, where people like this author report on real security and tamper protection systems as bad -- yet without them, the device would actually be…

> It's plenty easier to buy a hackable and open by default platform... Pray tell, where can I buy a laptop (of new, rather than vintage, manufacture) without blobs and master keys?

Post by vatueil » Wed, Jun 13, 2018, 1:15 PM UTC

Buge wrote: post #11

>To my knowledge, there has been no detailed public discussion of this NSA-imposed atrocity anywhere on the Net, This blog post asserts that it was imposed by the NSA. Where is the evidence for that? The only source seems to be what appears to be speculation by some person on IRC. >20:23 from my pov, it's nsa rootkit It's hard to take this post very seriously when there's disinformation like this.