Intel Grapples with a Significant Security Incident Triggered by Data Breach
Reworded: MSI suffered a significant security breach two months ago that resulted in the loss of sensitive data, including firmware source code for MSI motherboards. As a result of this breach, other companies, including Intel, have also been impacted. In particular, Intel has discovered a leak of its Boot Guard keys, which may render the feature useless on many devices. According to Alex Matrosov, CEO of Binarly, the breach may have included private keys for 116 MSI products and FW Image Signing keys for 57 products, affecting multiple technology companies, including Intel, Lenovo, and Supermicro.
The leaked Boot Guard keys may compromise the security of several of Intel’s popular processors, such as Tiger Lake, Alder Lake, and Raptor Lake chips running on MSI-based devices. Intel is currently investigating the matter and has stated that its Boot Guard OEM keys are generated by the system manufacturer and are not Intel signing keys. The breach reportedly began with a cyberattack on MSI in March, where hackers stole up to 1.5TB of sensitive data, including the firmware source code of MSI motherboards. The hackers demanded $4 million from MSI to prevent public leakage, which MSI refused to pay. The leaked information may enable threat actors to construct powerful malware that can bypass Intel’s safety features.
