D
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Just got a heavily used Dell Optiplex 790 for parts from my university for scrap value. Threw in a hard drive and some RAM, and it ended up working very well. It came with an i5 2400, which is pretty slow by today's standards, but for a basic computer it's not bad at all, especially with Linux. After opening up the side once more to upgrade to a better CPU from the 2nd gen era, I found out this could be the most secure computer I've ever owned.
For those of you unaware, every Intel computer made after 2008 basically has a backdoor in it called the Intel Management Engine. This is meant to give enterprise administrators low level root access to computers remotely, but in recent years more and more vulnerabilities are being discovered that could mean attackers are able to break into Intel ME enabled computers and wreak havok. Because Intel ME works on such a low level with the BIOS, its privilege level is dangerously high. Intel ME exploits can affect any computer, with any OS.
Dell does deals with certain enterprises and government agencies to disable these management engines from the factory, and ONLY enterprises and governments get access to this option according to my research. End users that get Dell products either have to go through very risky BIOS modifications to disable it, or they have to shut up and deal with it. Because this computer was initially bought from Dell by my university, they got access to this feature upon purchase and chose to take advantage of it. Because I now bought it off of my university as surplus, that security feature was unintentionally passed onto me, part of the "unwashed masses" not worthy of such a feature. No risky BIOS mods for me, I get all the security I need right out of the box. Not to mention, a pretty decent computer despite its age.
Granted, I'll still have to deal with Meltdown and Spectre, but as far as I'm aware supposedly the Ubuntu kernel itself takes care of 90% of those vulnerabilites so I'll be okay.
Image attached of the factory tag so you know I'm not lying
For those of you unaware, every Intel computer made after 2008 basically has a backdoor in it called the Intel Management Engine. This is meant to give enterprise administrators low level root access to computers remotely, but in recent years more and more vulnerabilities are being discovered that could mean attackers are able to break into Intel ME enabled computers and wreak havok. Because Intel ME works on such a low level with the BIOS, its privilege level is dangerously high. Intel ME exploits can affect any computer, with any OS.
Dell does deals with certain enterprises and government agencies to disable these management engines from the factory, and ONLY enterprises and governments get access to this option according to my research. End users that get Dell products either have to go through very risky BIOS modifications to disable it, or they have to shut up and deal with it. Because this computer was initially bought from Dell by my university, they got access to this feature upon purchase and chose to take advantage of it. Because I now bought it off of my university as surplus, that security feature was unintentionally passed onto me, part of the "unwashed masses" not worthy of such a feature. No risky BIOS mods for me, I get all the security I need right out of the box. Not to mention, a pretty decent computer despite its age.
Granted, I'll still have to deal with Meltdown and Spectre, but as far as I'm aware supposedly the Ubuntu kernel itself takes care of 90% of those vulnerabilites so I'll be okay.
Image attached of the factory tag so you know I'm not lying
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