Reports this morning that Intel processors are affected by a serious flaw that can reduce performance significantly affect the company's credibility and hard stock. Intel has now officially responded to these reports, calling them "inaccurate" and "untrue". "inaccurate", and saying that he had planned to discuss this issue next week.
The flaw allows ordinary users and processes to access data deep into the internal mechanisms of the processor and architecture, especially the kernel memory. The possibilities for the bad actors who take advantage of such a gaping hole are many, and unfortunately, there is no easy solution that does not slow down also the operations of the processor.
In his statement, published "Due to current inaccurate media reports," Intel writes:
Recent reports that these exploits are caused by a "bug" or a "flaw" and are unique to Intel products are incorrect. According to the analysis performed to date, many types of computing devices – with many processors and operating systems from different vendors – are susceptible to these exploits.
In other words, it's not just them. This may seem like a deviation, but it is also possible that the problem is more widespread than the simple hardware Intel – and Intel is not likely to explode the smoke with an assertion that can not be verified. Other major chip companies and operating systems are almost all already aware of the problem. Indeed, Intel says that they were about to make a joint announcement:
Intel is committed to product and customer security and works closely with many other technology companies, including AMD, ARM Holdings and several operating system vendors, to develop a sector-wide approach to solve this problem quickly and constructively.
Intel and other vendors planned to disclose this issue next week when more software and firmware updates will be available.
Intel downplayed the impact on performance: "Contrary to some reports, performance impacts depend on workload and, for the average user, should not be significant and will be mitigated over time. "
This is fine, but there is no doubt that the impact will be measured carefully by the benchmarks and explained in detail – some configurations and applications will certainly be more affected than others.
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