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posted by janrinok on Tuesday January 30 2018, @12:03AM   Printer-friendly
from the money-trumps-loyalty dept.

Intel informed Chinese companies, including Lenovo and Alibaba, of the Meltdown and Spectre flaws in its processors before the U.S. government found out from reading press reports:

Intel Corporation initially warned a handful of customers, including several Chinese technology firms, about security flaws within its processor chips, while at the same time not telling the U.S. government, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.

Security experts told the newspaper that the decision could have allowed Chinese tech companies to flag the vulnerabilities to Beijing, giving the Chinese government opportunity to exploit them.

Jake Williams, head of the security company Rendition Infosec and former National Security Agency (NSA) employee, told the Journal that it is a "near certainty" the Chinese government knew about the flaws from the Intel correspondence with Chinese tech companies, as Beijing keeps tabs on such communications.

The Journal reported that Alibaba Group, a top selling Chinese cloud-computing services company, was among the firms notified of the flaw early on.

The NSA is more likely to spy on you than China.

Intel CEO sold shares on same day OEMs informed of bugs: report

Also at TechCrunch and Engadget.


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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 30 2018, @12:14AM (28 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 30 2018, @12:14AM (#630105)

    The key word there is "companies".

    Intel has business relationships, and acts accordingly.

    It's totally un-American to think that the government should hold some special, revered position in such activities.

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  • (Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 30 2018, @12:17AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 30 2018, @12:17AM (#630106)

    The woman's corpse embodied a form of silence so absolute that it seemed as though it would swallow everything around it. Used. Abused. Discarded. These things described her. The man, satisfied, smiled and left the building.

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by bob_super on Tuesday January 30 2018, @12:17AM (15 children)

    by bob_super (1357) on Tuesday January 30 2018, @12:17AM (#630108)

    Easy response: By telling Chinese companies, Intel has a reasonable expectation that parts of the US government are automatically informed.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by frojack on Tuesday January 30 2018, @12:20AM (14 children)

      by frojack (1554) on Tuesday January 30 2018, @12:20AM (#630113) Journal

      I'm betting the US Government knew all along.

      --
      No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
      • (Score: 1) by anubi on Tuesday January 30 2018, @03:02AM (13 children)

        by anubi (2828) on Tuesday January 30 2018, @03:02AM (#630157) Journal

        I would bet that certain agencies of the US Government knew of this *before* INTEL knew of them...

        And were implemented at the behest of the agency, in appreciation for the US Government's role in passing law that keeps competitors off their playing field.

        --
        "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 30 2018, @04:20AM (12 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 30 2018, @04:20AM (#630183)

          If you're gonna go paranoid it makes more sense for the government to get Intel to build in the vulnerability. Show some engineer a taste of the fancy spy life and say its for the country, shabam you got a new operative.

          • (Score: 3, Interesting) by anubi on Tuesday January 30 2018, @05:55AM (11 children)

            by anubi (2828) on Tuesday January 30 2018, @05:55AM (#630206) Journal

            Paranoid? I think its a well known conclusion, based on observation.

            The engineer is probably the weakest point in the whole shebang. But his contribution is required because the manager types simply do not have the technical level of understanding to implement the directive.

            I have met few engineers that did not have a deep respect for morality. By our very training, we know ultimately we are responsible for our doing.

            But I have also brushed shoulders with business types who see all of us as bleating sheep awaiting the shearing. Take the money and run.

            That seems to be how the rich people get so rich. They do not operate within the boundaries a lot of us place on ourselves.

            Now, there are some that at least have a smattering of technical language down pat, and use that to swindle... I hardly consider those people to be engineers or scientists... I know of three of 'em I won't have a thing to do with, but they have swindled millions of dollars from investment groups. Usually the attorneys get the lion's share of the pie. And I won't even get a crumb... because I believe I will have to answer to even a greater authority one day.

            I will tell the investment group the truth as I see it, no matter if that means my chance of involvement in the affair is completely negated.

            I am quite aware that even the smelliest shit, properly presented, will be received as delicacies.

            --
            "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
            • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday January 30 2018, @08:33AM (7 children)

              by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Tuesday January 30 2018, @08:33AM (#630245) Journal

              You don't do it because you're a fundamentally decent person, I hope. Not because you're afraid of an even bigger asshole than the assholes you were forced to deal with, who can torture you for eternity. That's not morality. Give yourself some more credit, will you?

              --
              I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
              • (Score: 2, Interesting) by anubi on Tuesday January 30 2018, @09:38AM (4 children)

                by anubi (2828) on Tuesday January 30 2018, @09:38AM (#630257) Journal

                Azuma, I believe I have quite a different concept of God than what I have been taught. I take the Bible quite literally. And when I read "In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word WAS God.", I take that to mean that God is quite literally the energy, math, and physics that has ultimately manifests itself in me and all I observe.

                Everything I read seems to imply to me that the purest form of studying God is to study Math and Physics.

                I must do as I feel so guided. I feel something is driving me almost in the same manner as things must fall because of gravity.

                Incidentally, the Bible refers to the hand of God holding the universe together, as well as numerous references to holding the sea in place. Its commonly known by another name: gravity.

                I have no idea what gravity is... I have been studying electromagnetism all my life, and I still have no idea what magnetism is all about. I can only postulate on previous observations what to expect. I have no idea how all this stuff came to be, and the complexity of design I observe. Apparently I am a finite collection of atoms and molecules, and somehow self aware, but am I? Is there something in me that I can't describe to a computer? Is God "Intelligent Energy"? Is there some grand plan? Or is this all just a humongous free-running statistical state machine at play? What wound it up?

                There is just too much stuff that confounds my understanding of thermodynamics and entropy. I should not be. Nothing should be. But it is. And I lack an explanation. And don't even get me started on paranormal stuff. I've had enough "night visions" that are completely inexplicable to me. Am I scared of them? No. But do I respect them? Yes.

                If I do wrong things, I will cause many unpleasant things to happen to everyone. Including me.

                --
                "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
                • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday January 30 2018, @04:14PM (1 child)

                  by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Tuesday January 30 2018, @04:14PM (#630425) Journal

                  You sound a lot like me then, though I can help a bit with gravity: near as I can make out, it's not a fundamental force the way the strong nuclear force is, but more of a consequence of matter, a second-order phenomenon. I've suspected for a long time that matter, energy, space, and time (entropy, not just time as we measure it) are mostly different forms of the same thing, and that the natural/supernatural and mental/physical distinctions are false dichotomies. With you on the "paranormal" stuff too, though again, I think it's just "normal we don't have a word for."

                  The Bible isn't describing the sort of God we follow, though. I've spent years researching ANE mythology; Yahweh is another tribal God like Marduk or Ba'al, and he's had 2,500+ years of philosophy grafted onto him. This explains why the Abrahamic religions are all so completely schizophrenic.

                  --
                  I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
                  • (Score: 1) by anubi on Wednesday January 31 2018, @06:25AM

                    by anubi (2828) on Wednesday January 31 2018, @06:25AM (#630837) Journal

                    Thanks... we are definitely on the same page. I respect the spirit, but reject the interpretations others try to implant, especially if they are gonna pass plates.

                    I feel I get played for a fool in church just as many of us get played for a fool by not understanding how our stuff works. We leave ourselves wide open to being taken advantage of for someone else's benefit. Like having some webmaster knowingly running javascripts behind our back that we would never run if WE were making an informed decision of what it would do when run.

                    It would not be the first time I have been played for a fool.

                    These guys are masters of invoking fear, uncertainty, and doubt. And we humans are about as vulnerable to that kind of psychological malware as an unpatched Windows box on the web.

                    I respect you highly - for researching the ancient near-east records to find out for yourself. How is trying to get to the bottom of things without involving people ( known to be inaccurate as hell, and sometimes mean and deceitful as well ) a sin?

                    Your observation about "matter, energy, space, and time (entropy, not just time as we measure it) are mostly different forms of the same thing" is the same as my take on it as well... the word I use for "thing" is "God". That is what I respect and worship. Its in everything and everyone.

                    A golden calf is exactly that, no more, no less - as well as any other manmade symbol of worship. I may as well worship a toilet and maybe get a little use out of it.

                    If money is the root of all evil, why are the preachermen always begging for it?

                    --
                    "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
                • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday January 30 2018, @07:29PM (1 child)

                  by DeathMonkey (1380) on Tuesday January 30 2018, @07:29PM (#630544) Journal

                  I take the Bible quite literally. And when I read "In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word WAS God.", I take that to mean that God is quite literally the energy, math, and physics that has ultimately manifests itself in me and all I observe.

                  The Bible literally doesn't say that, though. I literal interpretation is that God actually is a word. A figurative translation is that he's actually all that other stuff despite the Bible saying otherwise.

                  • (Score: 1) by anubi on Wednesday January 31 2018, @06:28AM

                    by anubi (2828) on Wednesday January 31 2018, @06:28AM (#630840) Journal

                    I translated "WORD" as "information-energy". Well, closest thing I could conceive of going to English.

                    --
                    "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 30 2018, @10:21AM (1 child)

                by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 30 2018, @10:21AM (#630265)

                Isn't that the reason some ancient sages created the legend of magic space grandpa, his son, his winged soldiers and that dungeon dude with the trident, horns and furnace? To incentivize people to be "good" and act with enough decency to one another to enable cooperative living?

                • (Score: 1) by anubi on Tuesday January 30 2018, @11:16AM

                  by anubi (2828) on Tuesday January 30 2018, @11:16AM (#630277) Journal

                  I believe you hit the nail squarely on the head. A leadership tool.

                  Nobody listens to just another average joe. Gotta have a fancy hat or something. And reporting to someone even higher up, because everyone sees them put pants on just like they do.

                  Yep... motivational theory... fear and greed. My God is NOT a Witch Doctor!

                  There is a very thin line between fear and hatred. My respect is borne out of an appreciation for things around me, kindnesses offered me, not the fear of a whoopin'. If I get one, God won't do it. It will come from the ones I have wronged. Karma. What I sow, I am gonna reap. What goes 'round comes 'round.

                  My own hell is I go to the grave, knowing I did not help things out one bit, or worse, knowing my existence made everything worse.

                  Like everyone else, I have loved ones. Including my friends and neighbors.

                  I have heard it said that "God is Love". Good as any I suppose. But I am still insanely curious of why I am.

                  --
                  "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
            • (Score: 0, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 30 2018, @11:36AM (2 children)

              by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 30 2018, @11:36AM (#630284)

              > I have met few engineers that did not have a deep respect for morality. By our very training, we know ultimately we are responsible for our doing.

              HA HA HA HA LMAO!

              Napalm, Agent Orange, V2 rockets, chem. weapons, bio weapons, landmines, just called and want to use your joke in their comedy routine at the next conference.

              • (Score: 2, Insightful) by anubi on Tuesday January 30 2018, @11:53AM

                by anubi (2828) on Tuesday January 30 2018, @11:53AM (#630287) Journal

                I didn't say *all* of 'em!

                For the precise reason you state.

                War is war, and many things get justified during a war. My dad went through WW2. The Germans are excellent engineers. And empowered their leaders with many cruel weapons. Many engineers were forced to do this too. If I had some badge-hat waving a gun in my face and threatening my family, I suppose I would be obedient to orders as well, even though I would likely passively resist by overlooking design flaws in stuff proposed by the high-ups. So it would be their fault when it blew up, as I was just following orders.

                When I got mixed up with some of these types, I felt I wasn't helping humanity much, rather I was toiling to make tools for the power-havers to enslave the don't haves. They think a lot different than I think. Everything seemed to boil down to enforced obedience.

                If I read my history correctly, we are making fertile ground for yet another Hitler to spring up, fueled by the same economic imbalances that fomented the hatred among the German populace.

                --
                "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
              • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday January 30 2018, @04:59PM

                by bob_super (1357) on Tuesday January 30 2018, @04:59PM (#630457)

                "Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down?
                That's not my department!" says Wernher von Braun

  • (Score: 2) by frojack on Tuesday January 30 2018, @12:18AM (1 child)

    by frojack (1554) on Tuesday January 30 2018, @12:18AM (#630109) Journal

    Equally interesting is that intel is calling for a Do Not Install because their patches were so bad, that even microsoft is backing them out.

    Hmmmm, maybe the government go to intel?

    --
    No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 30 2018, @06:39AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 30 2018, @06:39AM (#630219)

      back :)

      Hint: Intel was involved in that, just like Microsoft's later Palladium movement, and finally the TPM initiative, then Intel ME, then fTPM based on Intel ME.

      They've been in bed since the beginning.

  • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday January 30 2018, @01:52AM (6 children)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday January 30 2018, @01:52AM (#630139) Journal

    It's totally un-American to think that the government should hold some special, revered position in such activities.

    Is it totally un-American to think the same companies will be in no way special when it comes to protecting their assets?

    Because I can see quite a big reduction in the defense budget if US govt will allocate the same budget in protecting Joe SixPack's interest and the interest of any US-spawn multi-national acting abroad.

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 30 2018, @03:10AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 30 2018, @03:10AM (#630159)

      The bailouts of last decade were totally un-American.

      • (Score: 4, Informative) by c0lo on Tuesday January 30 2018, @04:56AM

        by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday January 30 2018, @04:56AM (#630194) Journal

        The bailouts of last decade were totally un-American.

        How can you say that?
        They helped multinats on the expense of the American people, of course they were pro-American!
        It was even a consensual 'fuck you, people!'... in the sense both the R and D sides consented (Bush started the bailout, Obama finished).
        If this isn't the typical American style, I don't know what else is.

        (grin)

        --
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 30 2018, @08:36AM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 30 2018, @08:36AM (#630246)

      it is wrong to reason in terms of American and Unamerican when confronting the worlwide financial system. Case in point Trans pacific treaty. in Europe people were told it was forced upon us by american interests, then Trump bails out of it because of American interests. So, whose interest it is and how big it is to be able to silence media on an international scale? The real borders and the real war is not between nations.

      • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday January 30 2018, @10:46AM (2 children)

        by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday January 30 2018, @10:46AM (#630268) Journal

        My point of view?
        "it is wrong to reason in terms of American and Unamerican FULLSTOP".

        It's a pity the Americans on average see everything as a race/competition which they, preferable, have to win

        (if you feel the temptation to utter "survival of the fittest", I'll be grateful if you spare me of that dog-eat-dog BS mentality)

        --
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 30 2018, @07:30PM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 30 2018, @07:30PM (#630545)

          Only a fool scoffs at "Survival of the Fittest".

          It is the case that the fittest might be the most "nurturing", etc. It doesn't have to be a matter of dog-eat-dog.

          • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday January 30 2018, @11:25PM

            by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday January 30 2018, @11:25PM (#630705) Journal

            Only a fool scoffs at "Survival of the Fittest".

            True.
            But it is the stupid who always translate it in a "dog-eat-dog" simplified meaning.
            And you must admit that's the most common knee-jerk reaction reaction coming from US side (at least, that's my personal experience).

            --
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
  • (Score: 2) by crafoo on Tuesday January 30 2018, @02:37PM

    by crafoo (6639) on Tuesday January 30 2018, @02:37PM (#630363)

    The government is a representation of the people, empowered to make and enforce laws and treaties in our place, for our benefit. Any corporation granted the privilege of operating within our borders is a subordinate of that government in so much as the government represents the people.

    You can't trust a multi-national, globalist corporation. They can act like shitbirds, and when they do they must be punished or the abuses will continue.

  • (Score: 2) by tibman on Tuesday January 30 2018, @06:25PM

    by tibman (134) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday January 30 2018, @06:25PM (#630512)

    Don't think the US gov is a customer of Intel? What if Intel decided to only buy AMD for the next decade? And yes, the gov does hold a special position. They even recently told Intel that they aren't allowed to sell certain processors to China at all. Trade blocked.

    --
    SN won't survive on lurkers alone. Write comments.