12-04-2017, 12:53 PM
FYI...
What is this thing:
https://www.howtogeek.com/334013/intel-m...-your-cpu/
Why it's bad:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Mana...rabilities
It's enabled on Macs. Apple has not publicly indicated any desire to disable it.
Firmware updates may address some of the vulnerabilities, but whether any firmware updates have patched the recently-disclosed vulnerabilities and proof-of-concept exploits is unknown; Apple doesn't provide firmware updates for old Macs (with some of these vulnerabilities going back to 2008); and it's been revealed recently that many firmware updates are not installed with OS updates as they're supposed to be.
So, plain and simple: You are undoubtedly at some risk from IME.
...Since this stuff is almost entirely undocumented (at east for the general public), I doubt that anyone here is in a position to evaluate the extent of the risk.
What is this thing:
https://www.howtogeek.com/334013/intel-m...-your-cpu/
Why it's bad:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Mana...rabilities
It's enabled on Macs. Apple has not publicly indicated any desire to disable it.
Firmware updates may address some of the vulnerabilities, but whether any firmware updates have patched the recently-disclosed vulnerabilities and proof-of-concept exploits is unknown; Apple doesn't provide firmware updates for old Macs (with some of these vulnerabilities going back to 2008); and it's been revealed recently that many firmware updates are not installed with OS updates as they're supposed to be.
So, plain and simple: You are undoubtedly at some risk from IME.
...Since this stuff is almost entirely undocumented (at east for the general public), I doubt that anyone here is in a position to evaluate the extent of the risk.