We all know very well that in January, the technology market was surprised by the Meltdown and Spectre flaws that allow data leakage when exploiting gaps in processors. However, now according to the latest reports, the giant chip manufacturer Intel has been hit by 32 lawsuits over Spectre and Meltdown chip flaws.
In January, the technology market was surprised by the Meltdown and Spectre flaws that allow data leakage when exploiting gaps in processors. Spectre, harder to fix, is not restricted to Intel chips, but the company is most affected by lawsuits: more than 30 lawsuits are already in progress in US courts.
We had expected the giant chip manufacturer, Intel to be the biggest target in court, especially as it was the most affected by the vulnerabilities (the company’s chips are the only ones subject to Meltdown) and the largest processor manufacturer for desktops, notebooks and servers. But a set of factors made this happen.
First, Intel is sued by shareholders who maintain that the company did not respond adequately to insider trading charges. That’s because CEO Brian Krzanich sold as many stocks as he could just before Meltdown and Spectre hit the public – and the company had been told the gravity of the problem months before, in June 2017.
In addition, the fixes released by Intel were filled with problems. They were found to cause blue screens and unexpected reboots on certain processors, not to mention the drop in performance after the patch was applied. The company even urged users to stop installing the fix while the bugs were not resolved.
Other lawsuits have argued that Intel violated security laws by ensuring that its products were safe to use, which proved to be incorrect after the revelation of Meltdown and Spectre, which affect chips made since 1995, Engadget shows.
The giant chip manufacturer, of course, Intel has been trying to solve the problem with stable versions of its fixes and a program that gives rewards of up to $250,000 to researchers who find processor security holes. However, it seems that the company will face Spectre’s ghost (which can only be fully fixed with a hardware upgrade) for many years.
We had expected the giant chip manufacturer, Intel to be the biggest target in court, especially as it was the most affected by the vulnerabilities (the company’s chips are the only ones subject to Meltdown) and the largest processor manufacturer for desktops, notebooks and servers. But a set of factors made this happen.
First, Intel is sued by shareholders who maintain that the company did not respond adequately to insider trading charges. That’s because CEO Brian Krzanich sold as many stocks as he could just before Meltdown and Spectre hit the public – and the company had been told the gravity of the problem months before, in June 2017.
In addition, the fixes released by Intel were filled with problems. They were found to cause blue screens and unexpected reboots on certain processors, not to mention the drop in performance after the patch was applied. The company even urged users to stop installing the fix while the bugs were not resolved.
Other lawsuits have argued that Intel violated security laws by ensuring that its products were safe to use, which proved to be incorrect after the revelation of Meltdown and Spectre, which affect chips made since 1995, Engadget shows.
The giant chip manufacturer, of course, Intel has been trying to solve the problem with stable versions of its fixes and a program that gives rewards of up to $250,000 to researchers who find processor security holes. However, it seems that the company will face Spectre’s ghost (which can only be fully fixed with a hardware upgrade) for many years.
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