Hi, I'm considering buying an MSI laptop. Call me paranoid, but since MSI aka Microstar is a Taiwanese headquartered company, they could be potentially more easily controlled by China, hence increased risk of spyware on the mobo, etc. Does anyone have any info or experience here?
PS, I know most electronics are either made or assembled in China, but in theory an American company like Dell, HP would be less controlled by China government and could test and ensure nothing like that exists on the finished product.
Any spyware concerns with MSI (Microstar Intl) Laptops?
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- KVRist
- 216 posts since 26 Nov, 2022
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- KVRAF
- 2644 posts since 17 Apr, 2004
Are you aware that Taiwan (Republic of China) never signed a peace treaty with China (People's Republic of China) to formally end the Chinese Civil War?
Voted KVR's resident drunk Robert Smith impersonator (thanks Frantz!)
https://open.spotify.com/artist/2myYesRBRgQB3LkZzEYdt5 | https://soundcloud.com/steevm/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/2myYesRBRgQB3LkZzEYdt5 | https://soundcloud.com/steevm/
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- KVRist
- 274 posts since 15 Oct, 2004
Let me tell you some things that might relax you:
1. There is no such thing as security regarding any modern device. Not even when you are disconnected from the internet. Your keystrokes can be decoded remotely by how each key sounds. Your data can be accessed in a number of ways, some by direct connection to your device, and some by other means, like electrical noise.
2. If someone really wants to hack you, then its all a matter of how much they are willing to spend - in both time and money. Usually 99.99% of people can be hacked using only free tools and a laptop, or in rare cases under $300-$500 spending. As for the time, usually under 1h if you are using new updated devices, and maybe under 5min if you are using old ones.
3. Your devices have some backdoors at the hardware level - some that we all know of, like the intel remote control stuff, and some that we don't. Add really sophisticated 0day software into the mix, and you go back to my first point. Also, most of the OSes have 0day backdoors left on purpose by the devs.
4. China doesn't care about you. Actually China doesn't care about anyone, especially someone using consumer hardware. They can hack you just by software and social engineering if they want. But then again, they don't care about you. Not unless you are some high-end tech company where they can steal some blueprints from, or some other cutting edge technlology. But even that is almost gone today, since China is leading the world in scientific papers and tech patents nowadays, and they even developed their own litography technology, so they can escape the ASML boycot.
5. I think more than 90% of the tech you already have came from taiwan one way or another. Even apple M chips are made by a taiwanese company called TSMC.
So you should relax, and maybe don't click any link on the internet so you won't get yourself some ransomware - that's the worst that can happen to you
1. There is no such thing as security regarding any modern device. Not even when you are disconnected from the internet. Your keystrokes can be decoded remotely by how each key sounds. Your data can be accessed in a number of ways, some by direct connection to your device, and some by other means, like electrical noise.
2. If someone really wants to hack you, then its all a matter of how much they are willing to spend - in both time and money. Usually 99.99% of people can be hacked using only free tools and a laptop, or in rare cases under $300-$500 spending. As for the time, usually under 1h if you are using new updated devices, and maybe under 5min if you are using old ones.
3. Your devices have some backdoors at the hardware level - some that we all know of, like the intel remote control stuff, and some that we don't. Add really sophisticated 0day software into the mix, and you go back to my first point. Also, most of the OSes have 0day backdoors left on purpose by the devs.
4. China doesn't care about you. Actually China doesn't care about anyone, especially someone using consumer hardware. They can hack you just by software and social engineering if they want. But then again, they don't care about you. Not unless you are some high-end tech company where they can steal some blueprints from, or some other cutting edge technlology. But even that is almost gone today, since China is leading the world in scientific papers and tech patents nowadays, and they even developed their own litography technology, so they can escape the ASML boycot.
5. I think more than 90% of the tech you already have came from taiwan one way or another. Even apple M chips are made by a taiwanese company called TSMC.
So you should relax, and maybe don't click any link on the internet so you won't get yourself some ransomware - that's the worst that can happen to you