Intel is allegedly investigating an information leak that noticed delicate BootGuard personal keys printed on the darkish net. 

These personal keys are designed to guard the gadgets from UEFI bootkits, malicious software program that’s put in on the system’s firmware, establishing persistence even when the arduous drive is changed. 

The information was damaged by BleepingComputer, with out elaborating what this investigation entails. In response to the assault, Intel instructed the publication “it ought to be famous that Intel BootGuard OEM keys are generated by the system producer, and these will not be Intel signing keys.”

Ineffective options

What we do know is {that a} ransomware operator often known as Cash Message broke into {hardware} producer MSI earlier this yr and stole delicate knowledge. 

The group claims it made away with 1.5TB of delicate data, together with supply code, firmware intel, and numerous databases. So as to not publish the stolen information on the darkish net, the group allegedly demanded $four million in ransom.

MSI turned the supply down, claiming the assault and the stolen information represented no actual menace to its enterprise operations. In response, the menace actors made the information public.

After that, totally different cybersecurity researchers began analyzing the leaked knowledge, with some discovering what seem like picture signing personal keys for 57 MSI merchandise and Intel Boot Guard personal keys for 116 MSI merchandise.

Researcher Alex Matrosov instructed BleepingComputer that the leak might render Boot Guard ineffective on “11th Tiger Lake, 12th Adler Lake, and 13th Raptor Lake” processors.

“Now we have proof the entire Intel ecosystem is impacted by this MSI knowledge breach. It is a direct menace to MSI clients and sadly not solely to them,” he stated. “The signing keys for fw picture permit an attacker to craft malicious (opens in new tab) firmware updates and it may be delivered by way of a standard bios replace course of with MSI replace instruments.”

“The Intel Boot Guard keys leak impacts the entire ecosystem (not solely MSI) and makes this safety function ineffective.”

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Through: BleepingComputer (opens in new tab)