The BIOS (in French: elementary input/output system) is the layer located under the operating system.
Installed in the flash memory of the motherboard, it allows all basic operations to be performed when the computer is turned on.
“The BIOS attack is formidable,
warns the CEO of Yogosha (a platform that helps companies improve their cybersecurity),
because it targets the very heart of a computer's operation.
To succeed in taking control of the BIOS is to have control over the lowest level of the machine, that is to say all its components:
"
The cyberattacker then has full access to the computer"
, summarizes Yassir Kazar.
These attacks can be childishly simple:
"A hacker has several ways to corrupt the BIOS of a computer,
explains Yassir Kazar,
by discreetly introducing a USB key into the machine, connecting it via an HDMI cable or even via a simple smartphone charger cable.
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Cybercriminals can even act remotely: a few years ago, two American researchers, Xeno Kovah and Corey Kallenberg, demonstrated at a conference on cybersecurity in Vancouver[1] that it was possible to create programs contaminating million BIOSes.
Programs that can "travel" through attachments innocently downloaded by an employee: the file sent will then install malware that will take control of the BIOS.
Discover in the video above the defense strategy recommended by cybersecurity specialists to secure the BIOS and protect against these extremely damaging attacks.
Learn more about HP Wolf Security
[1] source: www.silicon.fr/combien-de-millions-de-bios-voudriez-vous-infecter-111620.html