BIOS infection - an item for discussion
in [Viruses]
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From: ~BD~ on 16 Jun 2010 03:56 "Peter Foldes" <maci252211(a)hotmail.com> wrote in message news:hv93ko$le8$1(a)speranza.aioe.org... >> In real life, my pal from IBM has said that he HAS seen this! >> >> Tell me again who the *we* is to which you allude. >> >> Why should I believe you - a cyber-adviser - as against a real life >> guru? > > If Your Guru friend claims that the Bios can be infected with a virus > then I am King of England. The Bios cannot get infected with a virus. > Period I used the term 'virus' in the generic sense to mean MALWARE. Are you now going to dispute what FromTheRafters has said in this thread - that it *is* possible? > David stop beating a dead horse for the last 2 years and get it > through that hard head of yours that you are a cretin and an ignorant > fool when it comes to computers I'm very well aware that I know little about computers, Peter - that was why I first visited the Microsoft Communities five years ago, to learn. I had not expected to be told lies, something you have done consistently since we first met on the Annexcafe User2User newsgroup (a private server - not available to unregistered folk - start here: http://www.annexcafe.com/ ). It always seems to me that you are trying to hide something - what are you afraid of? Why did you follow me to this newsgroup? I came to alt.comp.virus for truthful answers! ;-) -- Dave
From: ~BD~ on 16 Jun 2010 04:10 "David H. Lipman" <DLipman~nospam~@Verizon.Net> wrote in message news:hv8tl301he8(a)news2.newsguy.com... > From: "~BD~" <.BoaterDave(a)hotmail.co.uk> > > > | "David H. Lipman" <DLipman~nospam~@Verizon.Net> wrote in message > | news:hv8qli01f0g(a)news2.newsguy.com... > > >>> In practice -- it isn't and that why *we* do NOT see this! > >>> BD - FUD master. > > > | @ David H Lipman > > | In real life, my pal from IBM has said that he HAS seen this! > > | Tell me again who the *we* is to which you allude. > > | Why should I believe you - a cyber-adviser - as against a real life > | guru? > > Then have HIM post HERE and provide the facts ! Ah! A problem .......... we are both aboard our narrowboats, but travelling separately. He passed me yesterday afternoon when I was moored and will be out of physical reach by now. He has to go back to work next week and must get back to his base, not enjoy leisurely cruising like me! I'll not catch him up! Although we have spent many hours chatting over the years, we are not sufficiently close for me to have his email address to hand either. Sorry to disappoint - I cannot get him here as you requested. I do find it frustrating when you refuse to answer my questions without explanation. Perhaps you hope that I'll simply go away? I won't! -- Dave BD
From: ~BD~ on 16 Jun 2010 04:39 From: ~BD~ <.BoaterDave(a)hotmail.kook> NOT from BoaterDave! Just who would bother? Someone bothered I guess! -- Dave
From: FromTheRafters on 16 Jun 2010 07:56 "~BD~" <.BoaterDave(a)hotmail.co.uk> wrote in message news:hv9ucn$s0u$1(a)news.eternal-september.org... > > "FromTheRafters" <erratic(a)nomail.afraid.org> wrote in message > news:hv9871$17r$1(a)news.eternal-september.org... >> "gufus" <stop.nospam.gbbsg(a)shaw.ca> wrote in message >>> Or could the BIOS code be flashed via malware? >> >> Yes, that is the implication. CIH demonstrated this fact by >> corrupting the BIOS firmware of vulnerable motherboards. >> >> The possibility exists that something useful from an attackers point >> of view can be done with this additional storage area. Any attack of >> this sort would be very hardware specific, and not too likely to >> become a mobile code malware problem. > > It seems to follow, then, that if malware *can* be stored in the BIOS > ROM chip, EEPROM chip. > even if a hard disk is cleaned (or replaced by a new one) and the > operating system reloaded from scratch, the malware *could* be > resurrected - as if from the dead! No, whatever malware fragments there were in there would have to suffice on their own. > With the powerful machines available to just ordinary folk nowadays, a > user might never know that their machine was infected and/or > controlled by an outside agency. This is true, even without the whole BIOS patching vector. > Impossible? Cybercrime is still escalating exponentially, in spite of > all the anti-virus/anti-malware programmes available nowadays. How? > > Food for more thought, IMO. > > As far as I know, there is no way a user can check what is contained > within/on the BIOS chip - so no way to know whether or not a machine > *has* actually been compromised! Might this warrant a new thread for > discussion? <wink> It is a block device that can be read from and written to.
From: FromTheRafters on 16 Jun 2010 08:02
"Dustin Cook" <bughunter.dustin(a)gmail.com> wrote in message news:Xns9D98DBF9DA9FEHHI2948AJD832(a)69.16.185.250... > I like the gigabyte boards for the redudant BIOS feature. They keep > two > identical BIOS chips on the board. When the main BIOS fails for > corruption, the other one kicks in; Alerts you, and in some revisions, > even offers to correct the primary chip by loading it's own image back > onto it. The secondary BIOS is stored on a ROM chip, so she's not > going > to be neutered. Very cool design, imho. I thought so too. |