How secure is System76 laptop with disabled Intel Management Engine compared to other mainstream laptops?

[jonah (Jonah Aragon)]

@overdrawn98901

What attacks have been conducted

@jonah

Intel ME has numerous and very well documented drawbacks and vulnerabilities. There is no reason that the security advantages that Intel ME does provide have to be part of an overall insecurely-implemented package. Intel could easily modularize these security components and implement them in a less lazy way, like Apple is doing with Apple Silicon for example.

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@overdrawn98901

For a non rhetorical question, what is a threat model + threat level to even begin to worry about these systems?

I would currently consider it fairly unlikely to be attacked in this manner by anyone other than advanced state actors.

However, the risk to all users if an an easily exploitable vulnerability is discovered in the future is extremely high, so it is still worth advocating against Intel ME.