This maybe a dumb question but i became paranoid all of a sudden and wanted some answers because i can’t find it anywhere else nor can i sleep without it. Like even if i did flash linux on a lets say amd laptop couldn’t the chip itself be spying on me ? Also i understand bootloaders are stored or rom is there a way to know what else is stored on it are roms open source ? Are cpu’s open source and companies like asus store their logos and shit on their mother boards so what else could they be storing ? Are there open source alternatives for these parts ? Are we all being privacy cautios for nothing ? I know we can use firewall but wouldn’t the chip integrated have the ability to bye pass it ?
I know there are linux laptops but having a pre installed linux and some switches isn’t gonna solve the problem do they use open source roms and motherboard ? Are there any fully open source chipsets ? I want to know the same about smartphones too ?
The best you can learn is that you didn’t detect communication while you were listening.
Security researchers typically assume that attackers know the systems that will be used against them.
An attacker could evade this trap by waiting to phone home.
Or the hardware could encode information in timing by subtly delaying data leaving the device.
Or it could sneak information out in the pseudorandom data that it uses to set up secure connections.
Or it could use stenography to encode data in your photos.