Intel Management Engine

Interesting talk about Intel AMT, more specifically the ME coprocessor:
http://recon.cx/2014/slides/Recon%202014%20Skochinsky.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2_-VXz9E-w

Basically, this is a super-rootkit on a chipset. I told you that the "anti-theft" technology was pure shit.. Also, this is why you need security clearance to work at Intel in US.

Store your old computers kids!

>>8,9
Functionally, technologies like SMM and AMT have to be able to do everything a rootkit does as a basic design requirement. Subversion of user controls are literally what they are designed to do. Intel as a whole has a giant hard on for "OS bypass" technologies like AMT because they add capabilities to the system which they exclusively control.

When a hardware maker tries to sell you on a security feature, always ask whose assets are being secured and against whom. Often the honest answer is that the feature is securing the manufacturer against competitive threat or legal exposure to liability.