After a compromising discovery regarding chip flaws, Intel is tackling the vulnerability issues in all their chips by forming a new cybersecurity group, lead by one of its senior executives. The purpose of the group is to excel at customer satisfaction, to “act with uncompromising integrity, and to achieve the highest standards of excellence,” as Intel Chief Executive Brian Krzanich said in a memo cited by The Oregonian newspaper.
Intel (INTC.O) shares dropped nearly 2 percent following the news of a lawsuit in federal court out of San Jose, California, and analysts and experts said they expect more legal problems ahead with other clients demanding, via lawsuits, that the company reimburse them the cost of patching the flawed chips.
The vulnerability was discovered when security researchers probed two of the latest Intel chips. What the researchers found was that an attacker can steal data from the memory of running apps, such as passwords, managers, browsers, emails, and photos. Two vulnerabilities were found and named “Meltdown” and “Spectre,” and by its type of coding, the failures can affect chips dating back to 2011.
“An attacker might be able to steal data on the system,” stated Daniel Gruss, one of the security researcher who discovered the vulnerability, to ZDNet.
To tackle future failures and prevent vulnerabilities, Intel is creating a new group within the company to test and probe the chips to make them safer. This task force will be led by HR chief, Leslie Culberstone, and will be named “Intel Product Assurance and Security” according to the report by The Oregonian.
