Infosecurity: Anti-theft Software Could Be Attackers’ Conduit to Millions of PCs
A useful cyber-defensive utility can be turned into a powerful tool for cyber-attackers in the form of full access to millions of users’ computers, according to research from Kaspersky Lab regarding an element of Absolute Software’s anti-theft software.
The focus of the Kaspersky research was the Absolute Computrace agent that resides in the firmware, or PC ROM Basic Input/Output Systems (BIOS), of modern laptops and desktops. It’s a key part of the ability to trace endpoints in case of loss or theft by products likeAbsolute’s LoJack offering. But the firm decided to look into it after the Computrace agent was found running on several private computers of Kaspersky Lab’s researchers and corporate computers without prior authorization.
