Intel says chips addressing flaws set for release this year

Intel Corp. said Thursday new computer chips designed to address vulnerabilities disclosed earlier this year would be shipped in the second half of 2018.

Chief executive Brian Krzanich said the new chips would guard against hardware flaws dubbed Meltdown and Spectre which could leave millions of computing device vulnerable to hackers.

Krzanich said the next-generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors, for cloud data centers, and well 8th generation Intel Core processors for consumer devices would be ready to ship in the second half of 2018.

"As we bring these new products to market, ensuring that they deliver the performance improvements people expect from us is critical," Krzanich said in a statement. "Our goal is to offer not only the best performance, but also the best secure performance."

The disclosure of Meltdown and Spectre roiled the computing world, prompting a series of lawsuits and a congressional inquiry about Intel's handling of the matter.

While Intel issued patches for most devices, security experts said the flaws were more difficult to deal with because they involved hardware rather than software.

Krzanich also said Intel has released software updates for all of its products launched in the past five years that require protection against the flaws.

"With these updates now available, I encourage everyone to make sure they are always keeping their systems up-to-date," he said.

Separately this week, security researchers said Tuesday they discovered flaws in chips made by Advanced Micro Devices, an Intel rival, that could allow hackers to take over computers and networks.

Israeli-based security firm CTS Labs published its research showing "multiple critical security vulnerabilities and exploitable manufacturer backdoors" in AMD chips.

AMD says patches on the way for flawed chips
San Francisco (AFP) March 20, 2018 - Advanced Micro Devices on Tuesday said patches are on the way for recently revealed flaws in some of its chips that could allow hackers to take over computers.

AMD expressed confidence that chip vulnerabilities made public last week by Israeli-based security firm CTS Labs could be fixed with firmware patches and updated software that would not slow computers down.

The chip manufacturer downplayed the threat of hackers taking advantage of the flaws, saying it would require administrator-level access to computers.

"Any attacker gaining unauthorized administrative access would have a wide range of attacks at their disposal well beyond the exploits identified in this research," AMD said in its first update on the situation since the flaws were made public.

CTS Labs published its research showing "multiple critical security vulnerabilities and exploitable manufacturer backdoors" in AMD chips.

The security firm itemized 13 flaws, saying they "have the potential to put organizations at significantly increased risk of cyberattacks."

The report came weeks after Intel disclosed similar hardware-based flaws dubbed Meltdown and Spectre, sparking widespread computer security concerns and a congressional inquiry.

In a 20-page white paper, CTS researchers said the AMD Secure Processor, the gatekeeper responsible for the security of AMD processors, contains "critical vulnerabilities" that "could allow malicious actors to permanently install malicious code inside the Secure Processor itself."

"The vulnerabilities we have discovered allow bad actors who infiltrated the network to persist in it, surviving computer reboots and reinstallations of the operating system," the report said.

"This allows attackers to engage in persistent, virtually undetectable espionage, buried deep in the system."

California-based AMD is one of the largest semiconductor firms specializing in processors for PCs and servers.

"AMD has rapidly completed its assessment and is in the process of developing and staging the deployment of mitigations," the chipmaker said.

"We believe that each of the issues cited can be mitigated through firmware patches and a standard BIOS update, which we plan to release in the coming weeks."

Related Links
Computer Chip Architecture, Technology and Manufacture
Nano Technology News From SpaceMart.com

Tweet

Thanks for being there;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.

SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5+ Billed Monthly

paypal only

SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once

credit card or paypal

Precision atom qubits achieve major quantum computing milestone
Sydney, Australia (SPX) Mar 19, 2018
The unique Australian approach of creating quantum bits from precisely positioned individual atoms in silicon is reaping major rewards, with UNSW Sydney-led scientists showing for the first time that they can make two of these atom qubits "talk" to each other. The team - led by UNSW Professor Michelle Simmons, Director of the Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology, or CQC2T - is the only group in the world that has the ability to see the exact position of their q ... read more