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Intel Plans To Release Chips That Have Built-in Meltdown and Spectre Protections Later This Year (businessinsider.com)

Posted by msmash on from the next-up dept.

Intel plans to release chips that have built-in protections against the Spectre and Meltdown attacks later this year, company CEO Brian Krzanich said during company's quarterly earnings call this week. From a report: The company has "assigned some of our very best minds" to work on addressing the vulnerability that's exploited by those attacks, Krzanich said on a conference call following Intel's quarterly earnings announcement. That will result in "silicon-based" changes to the company's future chips, he said. "We've been working around clock" to address the vulnerability and attacks, Krzanich said. But, he added, "we're acutely aware we have more to do."

9 of 154 comments (clear)

  1. So in the end by fisted · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So in the end, Intel is going to make a shitton of money on Meltdown and Spectre because everybody is supposed to buy their new, fixed CPUs

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    1. Re:So in the end by alvinrod · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Personally I'm probably going to buy AMD for my next build. I've got an Ivy Bridge that's still serviceable enough, but now that 8-core chips have come down to mainstream prices and AMD doesn't have anemic performance compared to Intel for most workloads, I'm more than willing to give them my business. They should have their CPU lineup refreshed around April and I expect NVidia to start launching their newest line of Volta GPUs around that time as well so it's a good time to put together a new PC.

  2. Hopefully it will be secure by default... by wierd_w · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I a reminded of Torvald's scathing emails about Intel, their proposed patch sets, and how they pointed toward intel wanting to make future chips "Fast but insecure" by default, and requiring the BIOS or OS to tell the CPU "No bitch, secure mode only please", just so they could continue to claim benchmark scores (naturally, with the anti-spectre and meltdown patches disabled so the chip runs really fast.)

    Hopefully these silicon level fixes are *ACTUAL* fixes to the methodology used by the speculative execution implementation of the chip, so that speculative execution still is active, but the chip no longer leaves bits and pieces in the processor cache that can be exploited, and that it does this by default.

    Hopefully.

    1. Re:Hopefully it will be secure by default... by infolation · · Score: 4, Funny

      intel wanting to make future chips "Fast but insecure" by default, and requiring the BIOS or OS to tell the CPU "No bitch, secure mode only please", just so they could continue to claim benchmark scores (naturally, with the anti-spectre and meltdown patches disabled so the chip runs really fast.)

      Which is effectively the VW-emissions-scandal school of benchmarking.

  3. never look back, thats for sure. by nimbius · · Score: 4, Funny

    INTEL: we've assigned some of our very best minds to developing new chips with built in protections
    Slashdotters: what about the 8 generations of chips that do not have such protections and in fact require massive performance losses to protect?
    INTEL: very...best...minds.

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  4. wtf article? by pak9rabid · · Score: 4, Informative
    From the article:

    The Meltdown attack also affects chips from AMD and those based on ARM designs and, in turn, nearly every PC, smartphone and tablet made in recent years.

    What. the. FUCK! That couldn't be further from the truth. It's like Intel wrote this garbage piece of shit "article" for them.

    1. Re:wtf article? by amorsen · · Score: 4, Informative

      No. No they have not. Meltdown is an Intel-only thing except possibly for a few exotic ARMs.

      Spectre affects everyone.

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  5. And Intel ME? by Hrrrg · · Score: 4, Interesting

    And of course, because they are serious about security, they won't be including the Intel Management Engine in computers that don't need it, RIGHT????? Fixing Meltdown and Spectre isn't news - everyone knew that they would jump on that one. But how about removing the bug-ridden, back-door infested Intel ME? THAT is what we should insist on every time they try to claim security credibility.

  6. Stop phrasing this shit like Intel PR by tomxor · · Score: 4, Interesting

    We don't need "built in protection" we need a "design which isn't vulnerable", if the former is truly their strategy then the analogue is anti-virus inside your CPU... You people who write headline need to stop playing into Intel PR's incredulous attitude to their own fucking design flaw. Meltdown and Spectre are not inevitable, they need to be designed out not paved over. Intel: stop treating everyone like morons or suffer the consequences.