Intel has apparently turned up one of the holiest of holy grails in the tech sector, accidentally creating an zero-power-consumption on-chip 3G communications platform as an NSA backdoor.

The scoop comes courtesy of tinfoil socialist site Popular Resistance, in this piece written by freelance truther Jim Stone, who has just discovered the wake-on-LAN capabilities in vPro processors. He writes:

“The new Intel Core vPro processors contain a new remote access feature which allows 100 percent remote access to a PC 100 percent of the time, even if the computer is turned off. Core vPro processors contain a second physical processor embedded within the main processor which has it’s own operating system embedded on the chip itself. As long as the power supply is available and and in working condition, it can be woken up by the Core vPro processor, which runs on the system’s phantom power and is able to quietly turn individual hardware components on and access anything on them.”

A little background: Popular Resistance was formed in 2011 and was part of the 'Occupy' movement, having done its bit in Washington DC. It now promotes an anti-capitalist agenda.

Back to Stone, who says Intel can do all the stuff vPro enables thanks to an undocumented 3G radio buried on its chips apparently extends wake-on-LAN to wake-on-mobile:

“Core vPro processors work in conjunction with Intel’s new Anti Theft 3.0, which put 3g connectivity into every Intel CPU after the Sandy Bridge version of the I3/5/7 processors. Users do not get to know about that 3g connection, but it IS there,” he writes, “anti theft 3.0 always has that 3G connection on also, even if the computer is turned off” (emphasis added).

No evidence is offered for the assertions detailed above.

And with that, El Reg will now happily open the floor to the commentards … ®