Intel Boot Guard Protection is Compromised on MSI Devices Due to MSI Breach
Table of Contents
- By Steven
- Published: May 17, 2023
- Last Updated: May 17, 2023
Intel is an American-based corporation that offers technology products and services to much of the world. The massive corporation employs tens of thousands of individuals and generates approximately 63 billion USD in annual revenue. The tech giant handles a significant amount of data for customers and employees, and some of that data was recently exposed in an MSI data breach.
How Did the Attack Occur?
Micro-Star International recently suffered from a serious data breach that exposed more than 1.5TB of data. Some of that data belonged to Intel, and it's possible that Intel Boot Guard keys were exposed in such a significant way that the security feature isn't usable any longer. Money Message, a ransomware gang, broke into MSI and demanded $4 million in ransom payments to give back the data. MSI didn't pay the ransom, which means that all the data stolen was likely exposed and that Intel is now at risk because of this breach. It's a major issue that will likely cause problems for several years.
What Information Was Viewed or Stolen?
The moment that Money Message began leaking MSI source code to the internet, the Intel Boot Guard keys designed to protect a long list of MSI devices from cyber attacks were exposed to the internet as well. A total of 116 separate MSI products may have been exposed through the MSI data breach, which creates a serious problem for MSI users, the MSI company, and Intel as well.
How Did Intel Admit to the Breach?
Intel put out a statement acknowledging that many of the MSI devices containing Intel chips may now be more vulnerable to malicious attacks than they were before. Intel Boot Guard is only effective if attackers don't have private keys, and with those keys freely circulating the internet, it's likely that hackers will produce malware that can skip right past Intel security protections and infect MSI devices with ease.
What Will Become of the Stolen Information?
The stolen MSI and Intel data will likely be used to coordinate new malware attacks on MSI devices around the world. This data is quickly spreading around the internet, and hackers will use this valuable information to make more effective attacks than before. This is a serious security issue for MSI devices with Intel chips in them, and it's something that every MSI owner should be worrying about currently.
What Should Affected Parties Do in the Aftermath of the Breach?
Anyone with an MSI device should take special precautions to avoid downloading any suspicious files. Keep anti-virus software up-to-date, maintain the firewalls on your device, and watch for any strange activities on your devices to prevent serious issues from occurring. If you know that one of your devices was impacted by this data breach, you should be careful about how you interact with email and files online. If you are careful, you can mitigate some of the risks caused by this latest MSI breach, but you will be more at risk than most other users because of the device you own.
