Can You Trust Your CPU? w/ Matthew Garrett | Illuminating Firmware: Own It or Be Owned by It E1

A conversation with security researcher and free-software developer Matthew Garrett about who really controls the computer you own. We start with the Intel Management Engine and AMD's Platform Security Processor: the small, always-on processors beneath the operating system, and work through why so much firmware is closed source, whether that secrecy achieves any security, and what it would take to trust a CPU you can't audit. Along the way: coreboot and the limits of open firmware on x86, Boot Guard and Secure Boot and the difference between security and control, carrier-locked phones, DRM and why the Management Engine decrypts your Netflix stream, the economics of firmware-level malware and ransomware, and whether a fully sovereign modern machine is possible at all in 2026. This is the first episode of the 'Illuminating Firmware: Own It or Be Owned by It' series, subscribe for more. Chapters: 00:00 Intel Management Engine: The Hidden Computer 01:16 Why Firmware Is Closed Source 03:02 Cryptographic Signing and Boot Guard Vulnerabilities 04:05 Which Hardware Components Pose Risk? 05:47 Security Through Obscurity vs. Open Source 06:41 Why Firmware Leaks Haven’t Led to More Exploits 08:50 LLMs and the Future of Reverse Engineering 10:13 The Real Issue: Losing Control of Your Computer 11:21 Carrier Locks and Verizon’s Control 12:45 Boot Guard: Security vs. User Freedom 16:02 Does Boot Guard Prevent Installing Linux? 19:02 The Hardware Privilege Hierarchy 20:08 Intel AMT and the Management Engine’s Network Access 24:10 Can the Management Engine Access Your Encrypted Data? 27:03 IOMMUs, DMA, and Protecting System Memory 28:45 Can You Trust Intel? Malice vs. Incompetence 33:50 The Hollywood Movie Scenario: Realistic Threats 35:15 Firmware Malware and Real-World Attacks 39:16 User-Controlled Keys and Hardware Sovereignty 40:37 The Management Engine, DRM, and Netflix 45:33 Is a Fully Sovereign Modern Computer Possible? 48:10 Freedom vs. Convenience: Even Experts Make Trade-Offs