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Intel Issues Updated Spectre Firmware Fixes For Newer Processors
Intel has issued updated microcode to help protect its newer processors from Spectre security exploits. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company's new microcode updates – which impact its newer chip platforms, such as Kaby Lake, Coffee Lake, and Skylake – have been released to OEM customers and partners.
[...] The company initially released patches addressing the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities in January, but later yanked its patches for the Variant 2 flaw – both for client compute and data center chips – after acknowledging that they caused "higher than expected reboots and other unpredictable system behavior." And while Intel last week announced it was re-issuing fixes for several Skylake-based platforms, the company had not given further details for its other newer processors – including Kaby Lake and Coffee Lake – until Tuesday.
First Intel, now AMD also faces multiple class-action suits over Spectre attacks
Intel rival AMD is also facing a number of class-action lawsuits over how it's responded to the Meltdown and Spectre CPU flaws. As The Register reports, four class-action complaints have been filed against the chip maker seeking damages on behalf of customers and investors. The suits follow a warning from AMD in late January that warned investors that it is "also subject to claims related to the recently disclosed side-channel exploits, such as Spectre and Meltdown, and may face claims or litigation for future vulnerabilities".
Intel revealed last week that it now faced 32 class-action lawsuits over its handling of the Meltdown and Spectre issues and three additional lawsuits over alleged insider trading.
Also at BetaNews.
(Score: 2) by RamiK on Friday February 23 2018, @04:02PM (3 children)
If it was done maliciously they'd be going to jail. Since it wasn't done on purpose*, they get the chance to recall their defective products or at least compensate their customers for the projected loss in performance if no damages were done between discovery and patching. Since they've done neither, the civil class-action suits for damages are appropriate and quite frankly rather lenient. Can you imagine what would have happened if someone's medical records were tampered with because Intel failed to recall or patch immediately? Criminal negligence is what the courts ruled for automakers when they hid those kinds of flaws and failed to recall in time.
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(Score: 2) by janrinok on Friday February 23 2018, @06:24PM (2 children)
I agree with most of what you say.
I'm not sure that Intel or AMD are guilty of not 'recalling' promptly enough. They have both been working hard to find a solution and to produce patches for the numerous types of CPU that are affected. I suppose that is for the courts to decide but litigation seems like someone is already making the assumption of guilt although it is not yet proven. Perhaps that is simply a difference in the way these things are handled legally in different countries.
(Score: 2) by RamiK on Friday February 23 2018, @11:49PM (1 child)
Go read a Yale or Harvard legal review doing a comparative study on any legal metric you can think of between nations. The US is considered one of the worst countries by any standard including Department of Justice's own. Like we're not even talking about slightly below the median. We're talking about well under countries that are governed by Sharia laws and run by genocidal tyrants. Like, you're statistically less likely to be found erroneously guilty of a crime - any crime - in just about every other nation that doesn't deal with water shortages on a daily basis then in the US. I mean, you know those horrible stories about how a woman was charged with infidelity when she was raped? The US is placed below those countries.
Handled differently alright... The rich buy their innocence while the poor work their sentences in privately owned prisons. Seriously, a nation that sentences 14yr/old to death really shouldn't go around claiming the moral high-grounds when it comes to issues of legality.
Innocent until proven guilty... Pfft.
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(Score: 2) by Wootery on Monday February 26 2018, @10:42AM
A tirade with nothing to back it up.
If you want to convince me to share your opinion, you might first convince me that we share the same facts.