a real life example of SR ICE? Options

[TeslaNick]

Making a modern reasonably-secure computer kill itself with network input is about as likely as making a reasonably-sane human kill themselves with purely visual input.

That is to say, it's not strictly impossible, but it's extremely difficult and requires intimate knowledge of the system (or person) being attacked.

[Stahlseele]

Hah!
There's still software that can potentially kill computers even today . .
Seeing how Fan-Control is mostly software based today, you just have to make the software think that the temperature is not as high as it really is.
So now the fan does, maybe, 10% of the work it should do. And your CPU/GPU heats up to 150° Celsius and it's gone like the wind . .
Other example would be todays software overclocking stuff . . just tell it to crank it up to 11 and watch the hardware fry.
More famous examples are firmwarebugs in certain HDD's for example. It may not be too expensive, it may not be too hard to fix . .
But damn it if it does not hurt when all of a sudden you lose about 2TB of Data . .
Furthermore, there were certain HDD's where the software that controlled the read/write arm was buggy and could be used to destroy the HDD.
Because if you sent it a certain set of instructions, then the arm would move in such a way that the entire HDD became unstable.
Basically, it's using the resonance of the thing kinda . . repeat often enough, and the HDD starts to move in ways that are unhealthy for HDD's.
Untill the 5400/7200/10000rpm spinning disks hit something that does NOT move . . SPRACK and the HDD is done for . . or screech if the head just hits the platter and scratches it up good.
There were other HDD's, where the head crash could be caused by software too.
Today, there are SSD's which from time to time need firmware upgrades . . if one such upgrade were to be hacked, you could build a backdoor straigt into the device.
Or you could make it so that the firmware can not be flashed anymore and garbles up all data that has nothing to do with the running of the OS . .
And i am curious to see what the EFI which is supposed to replace BIOS can be used for . .

[Ramaloke]

Well with the current versatility offered by "virtualized machines" this is unlikely to work. If the server you are targeting with your software is nonexistent there's no hardware to fry. VMs are incredibly handy due to the ease of maintenance, lower downtime, ease of backing up, and the ability to pool resources and distribute them as needed, I dont think this type of thing would ever catch on even if it was/is feasible.

[Sengir]

Hah!
There's still software that can potentially kill computers even today . .
Seeing how Fan-Control is mostly software based today, you just have to make the software think that the temperature is not as high as it really is.
So now the fan does, maybe, 10% of the work it should do. And your CPU/GPU heats up to 150° Celsius and it's gone like the wind . .
Other example would be todays software overclocking stuff . . just tell it to crank it up to 11 and watch the hardware fry.

As said earlier, modern processors will just throttle or shut down if they get too hot. Nothing you should do for weeks, but the immediate effect will at best be a reboot.

And i am curious to see what the EFI which is supposed to replace BIOS can be used for . .

UEFI drivers also just interact with functions provided by device vendor. Additionally, EFI even has a mechanism for authenticating drivers...it's not used much and certainly not foolproof (drivers are authenticated before loading. But like everything else, the authentication mechanism is a driver...you get the idea (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) ), but at least it exists.

[Draco18s]

Making a modern reasonably-secure computer kill itself with network input is about as likely as making a reasonably-sane human kill themselves with purely visual input.

That is to say, it's not strictly impossible, but it's extremely difficult and requires intimate knowledge of the system (or person) being attacked.

I take it you've read BLIT.

[Fix-it]

about as likely as making a reasonably-sane human kill themselves with purely visual input.

I don't know, the article in the OP kinda made me want to.

[Stahlseele]

I don't know, the article in the OP kinda made me want to.

Have you seen the one about the woman claiming ownership of the sun yet?

[Draco18s]

Have you seen the one about the woman claiming ownership of the sun yet?

Well there is a guy who has a legitimate claim to a good 40 square km of the moon, IIRC.

He purchased a lost Russian lunar rover, which was (about a year ago) found. I forget the law/rule that was invoked, but it was along the lines of "A man may claim land that is not belonging to any country and which he has tilled the soil." Noting that the lunar soil was tilled (or put to use) by the rover's wheels.

[Stahlseele]

Yeah, that's a way to get around certain limitations. And the moon, at least, has had and can have visitors again and again . .
But, if you read the whole article, she wants to make people pay for using her sun . .

[Draco18s]

Yeah, that's a way to get around certain limitations. And the moon, at least, has had and can have visitors again and again . .
But, if you read the whole article, she wants to make people pay for using her sun . .

I did read that (I made my post before the article even loaded) which I think is hilarious.

[Sponge]

I'm not using her sun, her sun is beaming light onto my property. I should sue her for harrassment, if she can't control her own stellar processes.

[Draco18s]

I'm not using her sun, her sun is beaming light onto my property. I should sue her for harrassment, if she can't control her own stellar processes.

Doo Eet.

Also, she's not paying taxes on all of the acreage she owns (roughly 1,504,377,562,400,000 acres).

[Kagetenshi]

Never mind the wrongful death suits from the estates of a significant fraction of skin cancer deaths.

~J

[nylanfs]

Making a modern reasonably-secure computer kill itself with network input is about as likely as making a reasonably-sane human kill themselves with purely visual input.

Plan 9 from Outer Space, although I guess that's not purely visual input, the script would have to be an input as well.