A cold boot is a method of starting a computer where a small program triggers the loading of the operating system. A cold boot attack is a hacking attempt that resets a running computer to obtain sensitive information from its memory. The term “boot” comes from “bootstrap load”.
A cold boot, also called a cold boot or cold boot, is a method of starting a computer in which the machine begins to shut down or a specific function is sent to the computer’s processor which triggers a restart. In a normal cold boot process, your computer runs a small program. This process triggers another program to start, which loads the operating system. A cold boot attack is a hacking attack based on starting your computer.
The term “boot” is the abbreviation of “bootstrap load”, a very old computer term. The original term drew on the phrase “pulled up by his own boots.” In the non-computing phrase, a person was self-sufficient enough to lift himself off the ground by pulling the loops on the back of a pair of cowboy boots. In computing, the computer was self-sufficient enough that once a sequence started, it was able to load its own operating system. Eventually, the term was shortened to simply “boot load” or “startup.”
When a computer cold boots, it goes through a series of predefined steps that culminate in the operating system loading. Typically, the first steps are performed by the computer’s Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) when it runs the hardware self-tests, locates the boot drive, and then runs the boot loader program. The boot loader continues the boot process by actually loading the operating system. Some systems have an extra step or two, like a second-stage boot loader or an extra hardware step, but that’s still the basic process.
Most cold boots involve a user pressing the power button on a computer, but that’s not the only method. It is also possible to send a specific type of restart signal to the computer processor. This signal bypasses all shutdown and caching procedures and restarts the computer as if it were turned off. While this may seem like a random restart of the computer to the user, it is actually a rare occurrence and could signal an attempted cold boot attack.
In a cold boot attack, a hacker sends a reset signal to a running computer. This will reset the machine, bypassing the normal shutdown processes. One of these processes is the deletion of information from the computer’s memory. If the memory in the restarted computer is read fast enough, the hacker may be able to obtain information that would have been locked in the previous boot. The common targets of a cold boot attack are your computer’s logon information and encryption keys.
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