DEF CON 26  - Christopher Domas - GOD MODE UNLOCKED Hardware Backdoors in redacted x86
Channel: DEFCONConference
Date: 2018-10-22

Complexity is increasing. Trust eroding. In the wake of Spectre and Meltdown, when it seems that things cannot get any darker for processor security, the last light goes out. This talk will demonstrate what everyone has long feared but never proven: there are hardware backdoors in some x86 processors, and they're buried deeper than we ever imagined possible. While this research specifically examines a third-party processor, we use this as a stepping stone to explore the feasibility of more widespread hardware backdoors.