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From: U5434122@ucsvc.ucs.unimelb.edu.au
Newsgroups: comp.virus
Subject: Re: Software Upgradable BIOS (PC)
Message-ID: <0001.9105311330.AA00359@ubu.cert.sei.cmu.edu>
Date: 30 May 91 03:24:00 GMT
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Approved: krvw@sei.cmu.edu


       walker@aedc-vax.af.mil (William Walker C60223 x4570) writes:
> Here's something that should make the anti-virus community cringe.
> Intel has announced a chip which would allow users to upgrade their
> BIOS using a floppy disk.  The term I saw was "erasable programmable
> read-only memory (EPROM),"
> [bits deleted]

> It does make sense to simplify the BIOS field upgrade, but to do it
> using something as transient as software in this day and age probably
> would not be wise.  More logical would be a small cartridge, not
> unlike an HP font cartridge, which can be changed without having to
> open the case.  Sure, it would be more expensive up front, but
> compared to the possibility of a "BIOS resident" virus, it would be
> much less expensive overall.  The same type of thing could be used for
> a ROM-based DOS cartridge, which could have a switch that selects
> booting from cartridge or disk, much as Krishna E. Bera suggests.

I have to agree that software changeable BIOS is a scarey thought, but
an alternative to the 'catridge' idea would be the imposition of a
hardware switch which permits BIOS writing.  The update program could
request the user to 'Press the button marked BIOS and hold it down
until the update is finished.'

Probably not as reliable as the 'BIOS cartridge', but still, it is a
thought.

Danny