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Does Apple silicon like the M1 chip have a spy chip (management engine) of sorts? [Answer: yes] (lemmy.sdf.org)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/infosec@infosec.pub
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/41050620

Spy chips are:

  • Intel CPUs after ~2008
  • AMD CPUs after ~2013
  • Arm CPUs (not sure when they started the trustzone stuff but likely around 2013 since AMD uses trustzone)

I believe IBM Power9 chips are spy chip free, but not sure about the successors.

Anyway, the question is about Apple chips. Web searches are lousy these days. I find nothing to confirm or deny the presence of management engines in Apple (Motorola?) CPUs.

Intuitively, I don’t think it would make business sense for Apple to do that because a majority of their customers are non-corporate individuals (unlike intel). OTOH, if that were sound logic then it would seem to contradict Arm chips which are also largely bought by non-corporate individuals.

Anyway, if anyone knows plz mention it here, ideally with a source.

Thanks!

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[–] 3 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

I don't have an exhaustive list of all the models, but It's say that almost all mac without the T2 or secure enclave all have reached end of support and won't be able to run any OS they still receives security updates. Ventura (macOS 13) will be end of support very soon, so that leaves Sonoma (14), Sequoia (15) and the upcoming Tahoe 26).

I'm pretty sure that by the end of next year, all the Intel-based mac will no longer receive security updates, leaving only the M-based CPU with support.

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