Researchers Identify Weakness in Microsoft WPBT

Re:Researchers Identify Weakness in Microsoft WPBT by snvzz on Tuesday September 28, 2021 @10:08AM (#28682960)

Now, thanks to Microsoft, vendor shovelware really is persistent.

Reinstall Windows from a clean official Microsoft image? That shit is still in there.

And it should be safe to assume laptops sold in some countries like China do bundle literal state-mandated rootkits in there.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Researchers Identify Weakness in Microsoft WPBT by shawnz on Tuesday September 28, 2021 @10:21AM (#28683097)

While I hate the idea of the WPBT "feature", in Microsoft's defense, it was created as a response to vendors like Absolute Software who already were injecting rootkits using their own less reliable methods.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Researchers Identify Weakness in Microsoft WPBT by Enginerrrd on Tuesday September 28, 2021 @05:54PM (#28687980)

This just isn't a defense.

In other sectors of the consumer space, they make updates that make the rootkits not work anymore.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Researchers Identify Weakness in Microsoft WPBT by shawnz on Tuesday September 28, 2021 @06:07PM (#28688066)

How do you stop a rootkit that's designed into the firmware of the system you're running on?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Researchers Identify Weakness in Microsoft WPBT by josephcsible on Tuesday September 28, 2021 @01:52PM (#28685498)

Didn't using FDE have the side effect of protecting you from Absolute Software's rootkits?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Researchers Identify Weakness in Microsoft WPBT by artificialLimbs on Wednesday September 29, 2021 @01:01PM (#28696542)

Not sure if related, but we recently made a new, fresh Windows image for our fleet on a Dell laptop. It auto-updated to include Dell’s “Freefall protection platform” or some such Dellware. I uninstalled it and didn’t think more about it. When we started deploying the image, all machines would auto-install the Freefall crap.

[ Parent | on HN ]