Intel has security ChastityBelt™ too

But it appears that after all the furore over the processor serial number (PSN) which Intel introduced a few years back, it decided not to tell the world.

Intel switched on the PSN by default, despite advice from the spinners inside, causing a huge fuss in the computer press which eventually made it change its mind.

See So farewell then, Intel PSN and our Via article yesterday.

While Intel never implemented completely its plan to introduce hardware generated encryption, it did create a random number generator (RNG) which is on most i8xx motherboards.

Rather than live inside the "brains of the computer", the RNG sits quietly in firmware hub - most of which is flash memory that holds the BIOS, the so called "knees" of a computer.

These RNG circuits, a reader helpfully points out to the INQUIRER, are apparently much easier to get working on a process designed for flash rather than for logic, as you can read for yourself, if you're interested in the slightest, at Chipzilla Central and again at the Intel site. µ