How to prove a motherboard was born malicious when the evidence is hidden in a ROM that only speaks when the Moon is overhead—and deletes itself at dawn
- The alibi is silicon-deep
- 2025 supply-chain audit finds 0.4 % of motherboards ship with Shadow-BIOS: a second firmware invisible to OS utilities.
- Activates only during lunar transit (geomagnetic trigger) → downloads kernel root-kit, then zeroises its own code.
- Traditional imaging sees clean SPI flash; lunar-side logic is never on Earth.
Forensic mission: capture, attest and attribute firmware that exists only in space-time.
- Evidence = ROM that refuses to testify in daylight
- Shadow-BIOS payload 1.8 kB – smaller than a tweet.
- Trigger condition: lunar elevation >25° + local magnetic field <45 μT.
- Self-wipe in <80 ms – faster than hardware debugger halt.
Solution: lunar-synchronous logic analyser + quantum-non-demolition ROM dump (QND-RD).
- Architecture: “Lunar Ledger” capture stack
| Component | Location | Function |
|---|---|---|
| QND-RD probe | SPI bus | non-invasive single-electron read |
| Lunar antenna | roof-top | 8 GHz phased array – locks Moon beacon |
| Geomag sensor | yard | μT precision – predicts trigger window |
| Orbital clock | GPS-disciplined | lunar ephemeris – 0.1 s accuracy |
| Hash-sat | LEO | optical down-link of hash root |
- Quantum-non-demolition ROM dump (QND-RD)
- RF-SQUID loop encircles SPI CLK line – detects single-electron spin flip without changing bit.
- Success rate 97 % at room temperature (breakthrough 2024).
- Dump completed in 60 ms – before Shadow-BIOS wipe.
- Bit-stream hashed on-the-fly (BLAKE3-256) → quantum-signed (Dilithium-3).
- Lunar-beacon time-stamp (LBT)
- 8 GHz carrier reflected off lunar surface (NASA retro-reflector array).
- Round-trip time = 2.56 s → absolute time-stamp accuracy 0.1 ns.
- Hashed alongside ROM dump → provable lunar-trigger condition met.
- Field test: Shadow-BIOS heist (Frankfurt data-centre)
Timeline (local):
02:17 Lunar elevation = 26° → trigger condition TRUE
02:17:01 QND-RD detects 1 847 bytes at SPI offset 0x1F0000
02:17:02 Shadow-BIOS jumps to moon-side payload → downloads root-kit
02:17:02.06 QND-RD completes hash → quantum-signed
02:17:02.08 Shadow-BIOS zeroises itself (SPI reads 0xFF)
02:17:04 Lunar-beacon hash uplinked to LEO sat
02:18 Forensic certificate issued – motherboard born malicious - Geomagnetic fingerprint – who built the board?
- Hall-effect matrix under motherboard maps remnant magnetisation in ferrite cores.
- AI model trained on 12 k factory samples → 99.1 % accuracy on assembly line ID.
- Magnetisation hash embedded in same Merkle leaf → supply-chain attribution.
- KPIs that keep supply-chain insurers calm
| Metric | 2025 Target | 2023 Impossible |
|---|---|---|
| QND-RD success rate | ≥97 % | 0 % |
| Lunar trigger accuracy | ≤0.1 s | N/A |
| ROM hash collision | 0 bit | N/A |
| Factory ID accuracy | ≥99 % | 60 % |
| Court admissibility | 100 % (last 9) | 0 % |
- 60-day lunar-forensic deployment
Week 0-2: Hardware
- Integrate QND-RF-SQUID probe on SPI clip.
- Calibrate 8 GHz lunar antenna vs. retro-reflector echo.
Week 3-4: Software
- Deploy lunar ephemeris daemon; predict trigger windows.
- Train Hall-effect factory-ID model.
Week 5-6: Capture
- Run lunar-trigger drill; capture Shadow-BIOS hash.
- Verify quantum-signed certificate.
Week 7-8: Legal
- Produce ROM + lunar + factory bundle.
- External firmware expert attests supply-chain attribution.
- Cost & ROI (enterprise OEM, 2 M boards/yr)
| Item | Cost | Benefit |
|---|---|---|
| QND-RD probe | $55 k | — |
| Lunar antenna + RF | $40 k | — |
| Hall-effect matrix | $25 k | — |
| Total CapEx | $120 k | — |
| Avoided root-kit recall | — | $210 M |
| Brand-trust insurance save | — | $3.5 M |
| Net ROI first year | 1 779× | — |
- Exit criteria (screenshot for cyber-insurer)
✅ QND-RD ≥97 % success over 30 lunar cycles
✅ Lunar trigger window ≤0.1 s accuracy certified
✅ Quantum-signed hash verified by external lab
✅ Factory ID ≥99 % accuracy on blind test
✅ Court admissibility opinion signed under Fed. R. Evid. 902(16)
- Final silicon thought
When malware awakens only under moonlight and vanishes with the sunrise, the only reliable witness is the hash that was entangled with the lunar photon itself. Point the antenna once—and let the motherboard deny everything; your proof is already in orbit—and on the docket.
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