A Computer Infection that Can Never Be Cured

A hacker demonstrates that code can be hidden inside a new computer to put it forever under remote control, even after upgrades to the hard drive or operating system. As the manufacturing of computers and other gadgets has migrated to China, an occasional paranoid voice has asked whether the country might be tempted to preinstall software for surveillance. This remains a far-fetched notion, but now a French hacker has at least shown how such a covert back door could be created. At the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas last week, Jonathan Brossard demonstrated software that can be hidden deep inside the hardware of a PC, creating a back door that would allow secret remote access over the Internet. His secret entrance can't even be closed by switching a PC's hard disk or reinstalling its operating system...read more>>>...