Company ships open source laptop with Intel’s Management Engine disabled

Purism now supplies its open source laptops with the Intel Management Engine disabled as standard. Both the Librem 13 and Librem 15 come with ME deactivated. The component is considered a security risk.

Not only does Purism now supply the Librem laptops with the Intel Management Engine deactivated, but already sold models can also disable the technology via a software update. According to Purism, disabling Intel ME is not easy, but the company can do it because it runs coreboot with its own bios firmware update process on the laptops. The deactivation would be permanent.

Researchers managed to disable Intel’s Management Engine last August. The latest version of the engine, part of Active Management Technology 11, has been part of processors since the Skylake generation. It concerns a processor that can operate separately from the cpu and can be used for, among other things, remote management, even when a system is switched off. Critics see the technology as a backdoor and therefore a security risk.

Purism will now focus on removing the engine completely. In addition, the company wants to remove the Intel Firmware Support Package. According to Purism, this part of coreboot is less of a concern, but removal is necessary to achieve a truly ‘free’ bios. The first open source laptop, the Librem 15, went into production in 2015. Purism is committed to making as many parts of its products open source as possible. It is also working on a smartphone: the Librem 5.