Austrian security researcher claims circumvention of Windows 8 Secure Boot - already

Windows 8 may be well on the way to arriving sometime next year, but security researchers are alleging that they already have a theoretical crack for its Secure Boot technology.

Last month we wrote about how various open source Linux developers complained that the Secure Boot feature, intended to prevent unauthorised access to the Windows 8 OS by preventing booting into unsigned operating systems on the whole machine, would cause havoc as they do not come with pre-signed security certificates.

According to Ars Technica, an Austrian “independent security analyst” Peter Kleissner – previously known for developing the Stoned bootkit – claimed that a new version of the software is capable of attacking Windows 8.

The first Stoned version could attack Windows XP, Vista, 7 and Server 2003 by installing to the Master Boot Record and then installing itself into the Windows kernel, even gaining access to encrypted systems.

Whether the world ever gets to see the version for Windows 8 remains to be seen – Kleissner is currently awaiting an Austrian court date in December on charges related to the original bootkit (with regard to Austria’s anti-hacking laws) after he presented it at the Black Hat conference in 2008. This may affect his visa for travel to Mumbai for the MalCon security conference there, where he is set to present his work.

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