Intel's Sandy Bridge Processor Has a Kill Switch 399
An anonymous reader writes "Intel's new Sandy Bridge processors have a new feature that the chip giant is calling Anti-Theft 3.0. The processor can be disabled even if the computer has no Internet connection or isn't even turned on, over a 3G network. With Intel anti-theft technology built into Sandy Bridge, David Allen, director of distribution sales at Intel North America, said that users have the option to set up their processor so that if their computer is lost or stolen, it can be shut down remotely."
A global remote kill switch in our computers (Score:5, Insightful)
What could possibly go wrong.
something missing (Score:3, Insightful)
is there an on switch?
It's not paranoia! (Score:5, Insightful)
I know what I'm getting for christmas... (Score:2, Insightful)
An AMD proccesor.
As if...! (Score:5, Insightful)
All your data are belonging to thief! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:And without owner's consent? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:A global remote kill switch in our computers (Score:3, Insightful)
Somebody forgets about this feature and puts a processor in an airplane or some other type of mission-critical machine.
May go back to AMD... (Score:5, Insightful)
I was looking forward to this CPU. Now, I am really going to research this. This may flip me back to AMD. I didn't like when Intel did the tracking on the PIII and the sound of this makes me just as uncomfortable.
Re:A global remote kill switch in our computers (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm sure the virus writers are rubbing their hands with glee waiting to get their hands on one of these chips.
Great for governments (Score:5, Insightful)
Want to shut down the opposition's operations? Just disable their computers.
Do. Not. Want.
Re:All your data are belonging to thief! (Score:4, Insightful)
How many laptop thieves give a crap about the information in the machine? In 99% of the cases all they want is to sell it, as quickly as possible.
Re:Remote Kill (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:A global remote kill switch in our computers (Score:4, Insightful)
> our computers
As an AMD fanboy - say for yourself.
Would you buy a machine with this in ? (Score:5, Insightful)
This to me says it will push foreign governments to non-intel machines. Can't risk the US government getting control of something like this.
Or any other power for that matter. No government or military would really want this on their systems. They might think they want it to "stop theft" but the consequences of someone else getting control are way to much.
Re:A global remote kill switch in our computers (Score:5, Insightful)
So what? The computer will be unusable (unless the thief wants to foot for a new CPU and motherboard) but the hard drive will still be there, full of your data! A few screws later and the drive will be hooked up to another computer, with all your info ready for the picking!
What? No conspiracy theories? (Score:5, Insightful)
Wow. More than 30 comments already and no-one has brought up Microsoft killing the cpu if it thinks your copy of the OS is pirated. Must be a slow day. ;)
Re:A global remote kill switch in our computers (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually, Kill-switch based malware is much less valuable in reality than other types of hacks.
Unless you are going after Iran or Wikileaks.
Re:A global remote kill switch in our computers (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:A global remote kill switch in our computers (Score:5, Insightful)
Theft, shmeft! I want the thieves tracked down and caught. Killing the box just means you need to buy (from Intel?) another box. Great for Intel's sales, but no help to us!
And what does killing the CPU do to the data on the drives in the box? Methinks nothing. If it's not encrypted, they've got your data. Who cares about the box (hint: only Intel, as they can supply a replacement). This is a really dumb "solution" on Intel's part.