[OpenBIOS] Secure BIOS for voting?

Mark Morgan Lloyd markMLl.openbios at telemetry.co.uk
Tue Jul 23 22:15:24 CEST 2013


Lennart Sorensen wrote:
> On Tue, Jul 23, 2013 at 03:08:54PM +0000, Mark Morgan Lloyd wrote:
>> And it has to have things like USB support because of people who
>> insist on trying to boot from USB-connected floppies without
>> considering the implications :-)
> 
> And having the USB keyboard work (which means USB HID support, USB hub
> support, USB controller support, PCI support, etc).

Although IIRC there's a simplified protocol for the keyboard, 
specifically for BIOS support. I've seen people discussing that in the 
context of devices such as the Parallax Propeller which don't really 
have USB support.

>> Read every source of security advisories you can find, learn to
>> disassemble and analyse other peoples' low-level code, and get a job
>> with somebody who write BIOSes.
>>
>> Seconded. Geohot's Sony Playstation hack was a textbook case.
> 
> Once the control of the hardware has been taken over, there is no way
> to take it back.

Or put another way, you might /think/ you've regained full control, but 
you can never /know/ :-)

-- 
Mark Morgan Lloyd
markMLl .AT. telemetry.co .DOT. uk

[Opinions above are the author's, not those of his employers or colleagues]



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