Intel have announced a flaw in their processors that will effect millions of computers running Intel chips from over the past decade, on Windows, Linux and MacOS computers.
Intel have not released specific details regarding the flaw, the embargo on any details is due to be lifted towards the end of this month when developers have had chance to issue patches to their software, but there are hints at what the flaw might expose. Intel appear to have known about the flaw for a number of months, and have alerted the developers of the operating systems so they can work on a workaround.
It’s thought the flaw could expose access to secure memory that should not be accessible, potentially exposing security information, logo details, passwords and other protected information.
All modern operating systems use the features on the processors to provide security when accessing the core of the operating system, known as the kernel. The use of the processor in this way helps speed up secure access to the kernel and to protected memory, and speeds up the encoding and decoding of data to and from storage.
While no specific details are known at the moment, any use of software to essentially bypass the features on a processor is going to come with a severe memory and speed cost. It’s estimated that some actions may be up to 30% slower after applying the fix. While this is an annoyance to users of Windows, Mac and Linux computers, it could prove extremely expensive to companies like Microsoft, Amazon and Google who use vast numbers of Intel powered processors to precess secure transactions and perform on-the-fly encryption and database access, a 30% drop in performance would be very noticeable on such services.
First of all, if you’re running a different CPU such as AMD then you are fine.
But most of you wont be. So those that have an Intel CPU will get an update pushed out from their operating system supplier (such as Microsoft or Apple) you should install this update regardless. If the flaw does expose security information, you can rest assured that it will be very soon after the announcement that some malware appears to exploit the flaw on unpatched machines.
It’s likely that the patch will cause your computer to perform certain tasks slower, an unfortunate side effect of the fix.
If you’re in charge of servers at your place of work, you should plan the deployment of this fix as soon as it is available. SQL and Exchange servers are likely to see the effect of the patch most prominently as they can perform millions or CPU transactions daily, domain management and user verification servers will probably notice an effect during user verification, so at log on and log off.
If you need help or would like any more information on this or any other security issue, contact us today.
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