[FYI] INTEL-PSN: Neues Diagnosetool

[Horns@t-online.de (Axel H. Horns)]

http://www.zeroknowledge.com/p3/home.asp

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           Privacy advocates have criticized Intel's plan to include a
           unique Processor Serial Number (PSN) in its new Pentium III
           computers ever since the scheme was first announced. While
           Intel claims the chip will facilitate e-commerce
           transactions and information management, Internet security
           experts claim the idea is poorly conceived and that PSNs
           will be susceptible to unauthorized activation, theft or
           forgery.

           Some privacy groups organized a boycott of the chips and
           asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate. In
           response, Intel released a free utility to enable users to
           turn the Pentium Serial Number off and notify users when
           the PSN is activated. 

           Zero-Knowledge Systems has developed a means to exploit the
           vulnerabilities in Intel's utility which proves that the
           serial number can still be retrieved, even when the user
           has set it to "off." 

           If you are running the Windows operating system on top of a
           Pentium III chip, you may view a demonstration of this
           exploit by following these instructions: 

              1.Make sure you are running Windows on a Pentium III
              chip, using Microsoft Internet Explorer (or
                Netscape Navigator with the ActiveX plug-in installed)
                and have enabled cookies in your browser 
              2.Click on the button below. An ActiveX control will be
              loaded and your browser may prompt you
                for permission to run it. Answer "ok." This control
                will freeze your system after which you will need to
                reboot it. 
              3.After you reboot your computer, your Pentium serial
              number will be placed in a cookie and will
                be displayed on your screen. 

           Please note that if you are running an anti-virus program,
           you may receive a warning stating that the ActiveX control
           below contains a virus or trojan horse. Some developers of
           anti-virus applications have released a "fix" for our
           exploit, incorrectly labelling it as a malicious program.
           However, our exploit is not a virus; you should allow it to
           run normally. 

             Warning: Clicking below will cause your computer to
             freeze after which
                               you will have to reboot it manually


           Error:You do not appear to be running Microsoft Internet
           Explorer. Although the exploit
            can easily be adapted, the current version works only with
            Microsoft Internet Explorer,
                    or Netscape Navigator with the optional ActiveX
                    plug-in installed.

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