New Bios attack renders anti-virus useless
A new form of attack that installs a rootkit directly onto a computer's Bios system would render anti-virus software useless, researchers have warned.
Alfredo Ortego and Anibal Sacco of Core Security Technologies explained that the attack is possible against almost all types of common Bios systems in use today. The researchers devised a 100-line Python script that could be flashed onto the Bios to install a rootkit. Because the Bios software activates before any other program on a computer when it starts up, normal anti-virus software would be unable to detect it.
"We tested the system on the most common types of Bios," said Ortega. "There is the possibility that newer types of Extensible Firmware Interface Bios may be resistant to the attack, but more testing is needed."
