Compromising the hardware layer, especially the CPU, is the Holy Grail of cyberattacks. Recent work by Christiaan Beek, a leading cybersecurity researcher at Rapid7, into developing a ransomware proof-of-concept that infects at the hardware layer, inside the CPU, is truly scary. The research demonstrates just how real this threat could become. He was able to exploit a vulnerability in CPU chips, the brains of modern computers, to inject malicious microcode. This kind of attack is deeply unsettling, as it would bypass all conventional security tools and persist even if the operating system or hard drive were replaced.
Christiaan is brilliant, having spent a career as a top cybersecurity technologist and thought-leader, and I am very glad he is on our side. Some of my favorite discussions about hardware and firmware hacking, were with him years ago when we both worked for Intel/McAfee, before the rise of ransomware. Our early conversations now seem prophetic, given the evolution of ransomware from software and OS-level attacks to the potential for hardware compromise.
Since then, ransomware has become a scourge, but often the mechanics reside at the application or sometimes the OS layers, where it can be detected and removed. Enabling malware at the hardware level is a significantly more difficult problem.
The deeper you go in the tech stack, the better you can hide from anything above, the stealthier you can be, and eviction from the system becomes a very arduous hands-on affair. Hardware, specifically the CPU, is the foundation of the tech stack. It holds all the keys to the kingd
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