Locking down the Thunderbolt interface
Lightning Protection
© Photo by Micah Tindell on Unsplash
The Thunderbolt interface supports extremely fast data transfer rates, but be careful about what you plug into your port, because Thunderbolt devices access memory directly. We'll show you some Linux tools for locking down your Thunderbolt interface.
The Thunderbolt interface is an interface used for connecting peripheral devices to many modern computers. Thunderbolt connections (with the familiar lightning arrow symbol – see Figure 1) support fast transfer of audio, video, and other data over a single cable and can also charge devices connected through the same interface.
Figure 1: Thunderbolt ports marked with the lightning logo.CC By-SA 4.0 Wikipedia
The Thunderbolt specification was developed by Intel in collaboration with Apple. Many users might think of Thunderbolt in the context of Apple hardware. Apple actually started shipping MacBook Pro models with the interface back in 2011 (see the box entitled "Thunderbolt Through the Years"). Thunderbolt has become a common feature on MacBook computers, as well as many other Intel-based systems.
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