PC hardware can pose rootkit threat

ARLINGTON, Va.–PC hardware components can provide a way for hackers to sneak malicious code onto a computer, a security researcher warned Wednesday.

Every component in a PC, such as graphics cards, DVD drives and batteries, has some memory space for the software that runs it, called firmware. Miscreants could use this space to hide malicious code that would load the next time the PC boots, John Heasman, research director at NGS Software, said in a presentation at this week’s Black Hat DC event here.

“This is an important area and people should be concerned about this,” Heasman said. “Software security is getting better, yet we run increasingly complicated hardware. Unless we address hardware security, we’re leaving an interesting avenue for attack.”

Read more: CNET News.com