A government entity has provided me with a laptop for my job. I am free to use it however i want, even when im not working. I was able to install a Linux distribution on it. I was wondering if theres a possibility that they have some kind of malware in the firmware. Its a HP device, and it shows some kind of HP Wolf Security badge on boot. I don't know how realistic my concern is.
[deleted] Yes that’s certainly possible. I would just assume they can see everything including where it is. Use your own personal device for personal stuff and work device just for work.
DeletedUser26 Thanks for the response! Do you know if anything like this happened before? I don't have another PC unfortunately.
[deleted] Stuff like computrace exists in the bios of many work machines that can trace it in the event it’s stolen. It makes total sense as it’s not really you’re laptop, they want to be able to recover it. There’s probably guides online for your specific model on how to check if these features are enabled, maybe you could go searching and see what you find.
[deleted] I would recommend in general to not mix work machines with private data.
I'm even surprised you were allowed to install linux.
But yes, there most likely will be some stuff on a bios be included and I would be carefully to tinker with that if it is not your own machine.
In the end you trigger some lock or theft-alert
oh and by the way, the factor of the device being government related is not of much meaning here. HP does this with/for normal corporate and private devices
Well, you don't mention what is your relationship with the State entity and why you got that hardware. I find all the previous answers quite excessive. It depends on the interest you can represent for your government. I'd assume, if you ask, you're just an average Joe, and unless you live in a specifically surveilled State, although it is possible, it would be improbable that you are spied on.
EDIT : this message is posted via a laptop provided by my State.
I am going to be honest with you all, even if OP reflashes the BIOS with coreboot, installs Qubes and sits in a Faraday cage while using the device, it won't change the possibility of small trackers inside the machine itself. If the OP for some godforsaken reason is allowed to open the damn thing, thoroughly examine it, cover the screwholes with glitter lacquer and then do the other steps I mentioned, then maybe sure. But if you need that kind of guarantee, I would just suggest to just not bother and buy a used Thinkpad at a local secondhand.
ILIKETRAINS I don't really mix them. I just use it for personal stuff. It seems like a normal laptop. I could just reset it to default state.
Eirikr70 Im just a normal guy. Not related to FBI or anything. My government provides these for people working various jobs that involve tech, like students and teachers.
stupidcreature I don't think the would go that far to put stuff in there.
yiit It really seems like a regular HP laptop tought. I doubt that my government has bought special backdoored ones dor citizens.
Eirikr70 Yeah realistically, you should be right.
Bit unrelated https://www.zetter-zeroday.com/former-nsa-hacker-describes-being/
We would [also] regularly purchase new laptops and install them with malware, and [then they would] give them away as gifts — completely re-package them.
Who were they giving the laptops to?
Other leaders. Leaders who were coming to visit [UAE] sheiks…. We reported [to people] two or three steps down from the sheik … but the only real people who knew who those people were, were Ryan and Marc.
Phew ! Fortunately, I don't know any Ryan, any Mark, and I am no dignitary ... Just an average public servant ! Thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster !
horde This is certainly done at an OS level which can be avoided if the user reflashes the OS (which you should do with every PC or Laptop anyways)
The most common spyware is absolute persistence (called previously computrace). However it cannot self-install on a linux distribution
it can only self-install on a windows partition because the software needs windows binaries
Rizzler it’s not an infection, it’s a feature of the board and firmware.
