it’ll hit business servers first… speed and power draw = profits. Even if they cost 1000x more than SSDs, the power savings and speed alone could pay for itself in a datacenter.
Sounds more like a very small security risk, to me. For most people if someone steals their laptop it doesn’t really matter what kind of RAM is in it.
If you’re in some kind of high-security role then use a laptop with volatile RAM instead. Non-volatile will probably be more expensive than the old stuff for quite a while so it’s not going anywhere.
Sure, but anyone who’s still running WindowsXP on their laptop wants to suffer.
As always, the security-minded will be able to secure their devices and everyone else will not care until it bites them. ULTRARAM isn’t revolutionary in that regard.
There’s always a tradeoff in computing between security v/s performance/overhead, so the value of it depends on your threat model, and the attack vectors you’re expecting.
Anyways, RAM encryption is generally “available” in various forms, depending on the mobo, CPU, software used etc, but it’s not commonly enabled/used. Most AMD boards (at least, mid-range and above should) have an option in the BIOS to enable Secure Memory Encryption (SME). This allows the OS to selectively encrypt memory pages, making use of a hardware AES engine that sits outside of the CPU.
There’s also Transparent SME (TSME), which encrypts the entire memory and works completely independent of the OS and software. Usually only high-end/workstation boards have this, and it also requires a Ryzen PRO CPU. TSME also has a much lower overhead, I recall reading somewhere it’s something like only 5%.
I believe Intel also has something similar, but I never looked into it.
The memory speed was slightly slower than DDR4 but the benefits didn’t seem to outweigh the downsides. I think it probably kicked a lot of ass for specific use cases (eg. in-memory database that needs persistence), but the market was too small. Plus, SSDs are getting so ridiculously fast that it would put pressure on a product like this too.
Our Families Windows XP Laptop had a RAM to storage feature that essentially did the same. I think Windows killed it off but if I had to guess it’s just not a good idea to avoid rebooting properly so I really can’t see the use for this.
Perfect for when civilization collapses and we have to do some wasteland 2 shenannigans to get the lost knowledge of the past back by hoarding laptops.
So you know those encrypted files you might have? You know how your computer is able to display them? Yeah, you enter the passcode and then it and any information derived from it is (probably, barring special hardware) stored in RAM to in order do that. This isn’t usually an issue because turning your computer off will quickly erase the RAM and it can no longer be used to open that file.
I mean… this already happens now if you leave the PC open or in sleep, for example with bitlocker.
And I guess in this case it could allow when shutdown if the memory has not been cleared…
But most of the time that is not a problem, most people aren’t attacked by pulling the info directly from the hardware.
And in case that is a possible attack, I expect a mechanism of the app(s) to clear that region on shutdown or whatever is done or even better maybe the OS would do it as part of the existing memory protection mechanisms.
I mean most apps already clear the memory as soon as possible if it is not needed to avoid having secrets or unencrypted information on memory.
I didn’t actually look more closely at how this works, but some kinds of memory are hard to safely erase. If I had to use this, I’d make sure there was a secure wipe of the whole thing minus whatever the system itself is using at shutdown.
It wouldn’t completely break security, if that even makes sense as a concept, but it wouldn’t help. Hardware security is the strongest kind.
This is already a thing we need to deal with, security wise. An application making use of encryption doesn’t know the condition of what it views as ram, and it could very well be transferred to a durable medium due to memory pressure. Same thing with hibernation as opposed to suspension.
Depending on your application and how sensitive it is, there are different steps you can take to deal with stuff like that.
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So does it allow this by granting immortality or by necromancy?
By uploading your consciousness to the cloud. Basic plans start at $4.99/mo
This sounds neat, but it also seems like it does not have much practical advantage over hibernation except faster wake.
The power draw and nonvolatility could mean it can replace SSDs and hard drives entirely. Just store everything in RAM.
Now… Let’s see what 1000 years of cosmic radiation does to the data.
I keep my encryption keys in ram. No thank you.
Looks really cool, buy yeah my guess is i will cost to much to be viable for most things.
it’ll hit business servers first… speed and power draw = profits. Even if they cost 1000x more than SSDs, the power savings and speed alone could pay for itself in a datacenter.
Maybe it could be good for moving and storing servers?
This sounds like a giant security risk?
Sounds more like a very small security risk, to me. For most people if someone steals their laptop it doesn’t really matter what kind of RAM is in it.
If you’re in some kind of high-security role then use a laptop with volatile RAM instead. Non-volatile will probably be more expensive than the old stuff for quite a while so it’s not going anywhere.
Maybe, it depends how it works.
Memory is often unencrypted and/or contains encryption keys. Many programs rely on the assumption that it’s cleared on powerdown for security.
Depending on how this memory enters the long term state it seems that a lot of legacy software might become vulnerable to a really simple attack.
Pulling the plug might no longer be something that forces someone to engage in rubber hose analysis.
In a world with ULTRARAM those programs will need to be rewritten to operate under new assumptions.
Sure of course of course but umm have you seen software?
There are still windows xp computers on the internet.
It’s not insurmountable, and of course I have no idea if/how this will roll out.
Just it seems to mess with a rather deep assumption we have about how computers operate when we develop software and threat models.
The better example is that there are still programs compiled in Win 95 running here and there if I’m correct.
Sure, but anyone who’s still running WindowsXP on their laptop wants to suffer.
As always, the security-minded will be able to secure their devices and everyone else will not care until it bites them. ULTRARAM isn’t revolutionary in that regard.
Depends if the RAM is encrypted, and how secure the TPM is.
I admit to being out of the game for a while but how common is RAM encryption?
wouldn’t the overhead violate half the point of RAM?
There’s always a tradeoff in computing between security v/s performance/overhead, so the value of it depends on your threat model, and the attack vectors you’re expecting.
Anyways, RAM encryption is generally “available” in various forms, depending on the mobo, CPU, software used etc, but it’s not commonly enabled/used. Most AMD boards (at least, mid-range and above should) have an option in the BIOS to enable Secure Memory Encryption (SME). This allows the OS to selectively encrypt memory pages, making use of a hardware AES engine that sits outside of the CPU.
There’s also Transparent SME (TSME), which encrypts the entire memory and works completely independent of the OS and software. Usually only high-end/workstation boards have this, and it also requires a Ryzen PRO CPU. TSME also has a much lower overhead, I recall reading somewhere it’s something like only 5%.
I believe Intel also has something similar, but I never looked into it.
AMD have a whitepaper available with an overview on how this stuff works, if you’re interested: https://www.amd.com/system/files/TechDocs/memory-encryption-white-paper.pdf
I have to regretfully say I would have had an apocalypse bingo but I didn’t have “Laptop of Dorian Gray” on my scorecard
I don’t think a battery, soldering joints or displays would last that long…
We already had this, it’s called Intel Optane Persistent Memory and Intel killed it off last year: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/docs/memory-storage/optane-persistent-memory/overview.html
The memory speed was slightly slower than DDR4 but the benefits didn’t seem to outweigh the downsides. I think it probably kicked a lot of ass for specific use cases (eg. in-memory database that needs persistence), but the market was too small. Plus, SSDs are getting so ridiculously fast that it would put pressure on a product like this too.
“Right. Now… what was I working on, again?”
Our Families Windows XP Laptop had a RAM to storage feature that essentially did the same. I think Windows killed it off but if I had to guess it’s just not a good idea to avoid rebooting properly so I really can’t see the use for this.
You mean hibernate?
I have absolutely no clue, I just remember what it did and that I tried it a few too many times in a row back then.
It still exists, and it works better now.
Interesting, I haven’t used Windows in ages.
So basically just a quicker SSD for systemctl hibernate?
Yeah, sounds like a best of both worlds situation where you wouldn’t have to decide whether to suspend or hibernate anymore
Can’t wait for my ram to last 1000 years just for the hinge on my laptop screen to last 2 (guess what just broke on my laptop after 2 years)
I’m guessing it was the floppy drive?
The whole thing is floppy now.
That’s what she said
Nah. That thing will outlast us all
no, it was the power LED
Perfect for when civilization collapses and we have to do some wasteland 2 shenannigans to get the lost knowledge of the past back by hoarding laptops.
And then you find out they were mainly working from the cloud.
If everything stored solely in the cloud was suddenly lost forever, that would probably be a net boon for humanity.
True, true.
I love the security implications of this. /s
?
So you know those encrypted files you might have? You know how your computer is able to display them? Yeah, you enter the passcode and then it and any information derived from it is (probably, barring special hardware) stored in RAM to in order do that. This isn’t usually an issue because turning your computer off will quickly erase the RAM and it can no longer be used to open that file.
I mean… this already happens now if you leave the PC open or in sleep, for example with bitlocker.
And I guess in this case it could allow when shutdown if the memory has not been cleared… But most of the time that is not a problem, most people aren’t attacked by pulling the info directly from the hardware.
And in case that is a possible attack, I expect a mechanism of the app(s) to clear that region on shutdown or whatever is done or even better maybe the OS would do it as part of the existing memory protection mechanisms. I mean most apps already clear the memory as soon as possible if it is not needed to avoid having secrets or unencrypted information on memory.
I didn’t actually look more closely at how this works, but some kinds of memory are hard to safely erase. If I had to use this, I’d make sure there was a secure wipe of the whole thing minus whatever the system itself is using at shutdown.
It wouldn’t completely break security, if that even makes sense as a concept, but it wouldn’t help. Hardware security is the strongest kind.
Or you could encrypt the snapshot before it goes to sleep.
Again, you just have to be careful you’ve cleared all the other stuff on the RAM.
This is already a thing we need to deal with, security wise. An application making use of encryption doesn’t know the condition of what it views as ram, and it could very well be transferred to a durable medium due to memory pressure. Same thing with hibernation as opposed to suspension.
Depending on your application and how sensitive it is, there are different steps you can take to deal with stuff like that.