Cybersecurity

Microsoft Confirms Serious New Security Problem For Windows 10 Users

Microsoft has now joined Intel in confirming a newly reported security vulnerability with Thunderbolt ports, one that enables an attacker with physical access to a PC to modify the port’s controller firmware, disabling its security. As I reported last week, almost all Windows PCs with Thunderbolt ports are vulnerable, except a few from last year that shipped with Kernel DMA protection enabled.

This new security threat has been dubbed “Thunderspy” by Björn Ruytenberg, the Eindhoven University of Technology researcher who discovered and disclosed it. Ruytenberg warns that despite locking or suspending a PC, setting up a Secure Boot and strong system passwords, and enabling disk encryption, “all an attacker needs is five minutes alone with the computer” to compromise a machine.