Intel Faces Scrutiny as Questions Swirl Over Chip Security
- 6 years ago
Intel Faces Scrutiny as Questions Swirl Over Chip Security
One widely distributed barb came from Linus Torvalds, the creator of the Linux operating system, who posted a testy message last
week advising Intel to “take a long hard look” at its chips “and actually admit that they have issues instead of writing P. R.
blurbs that say that everything works as designed.”
Major users of Intel chips — including Apple and the cloud computing arms of Google
and Amazon — have said they deployed security fixes recommended by Intel and so far they have not reported the sharp performance slowdowns of the sort some experts projected.
While Meltdown’s effects can be mitigated with updated operating systems, countering Spectre requires more complex steps like updating computer code stored in the chips themselves — or in some applications like web browsers, Intel recommends inserting special instructions in places
that security professionals said may be hard to identify
One widely distributed barb came from Linus Torvalds, the creator of the Linux operating system, who posted a testy message last
week advising Intel to “take a long hard look” at its chips “and actually admit that they have issues instead of writing P. R.
blurbs that say that everything works as designed.”
Major users of Intel chips — including Apple and the cloud computing arms of Google
and Amazon — have said they deployed security fixes recommended by Intel and so far they have not reported the sharp performance slowdowns of the sort some experts projected.
While Meltdown’s effects can be mitigated with updated operating systems, countering Spectre requires more complex steps like updating computer code stored in the chips themselves — or in some applications like web browsers, Intel recommends inserting special instructions in places
that security professionals said may be hard to identify