Category: Software Debug and Trace – Intel

The news is out! Intel today announced its Intel Xeon Processor Scalable Family, codenamed Purley or Skylake-EP. ASSET of course has supported this silicon since its earliest beginnings, with the SourcePoint and ScanWorks Embedded Diagnostics products. Read the full press release here: ASSET releases new benchtop and remote debugging applications for Intel Xeon Processor Scalable Family.
In two previous articles, I looked at the JTAG access port from a security perspective, and considered what exposure the choice of BMC operating system might have on a platform supporting At-Scale Debug. Now, letโ€™s consider the root of all trust, the silicon itself, and see what options exist for locking it down.
Security through obscurity is not a meaningful means to mitigate malevolent attacks. With the greater forensics capabilities offered by At-Scale Debug (ASD), how are platforms protected?
In Episode 12, I wrote a simple โ€œHello World!โ€ application in โ€˜Cโ€™ using the built-in UEFI shell functions. In Episode 13, I failed in an attempt to re-write that application using standard โ€˜Cโ€™ library functions, such as printf(). Iโ€™ve learned a lot since then โ€“ hereโ€™s how to write more sophisticated programs.
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