Meltdown and Spectre bugs update: Intel CEO promises processor company will be more transparent about security flaws
The discovery of security flaws Meltdown and Spectre led software companies to issue emergency fixes to prevent future system exploits. However, the emergency updates apparently caused overworking most Intel processors. Most media outlets called for the processor manufacturer to be more transparent about the issue, as their statements are vaguely-worded and lack the assurance most users expect from the company.
The first statement the company released said that the extra performance needed "should not be significant" to overwork the processors. They also said that the impacts are "workload-dependent," and pointed out that other processors are affected by Meltdown and Spectre, as well.
Intel's next statement, issued a day after the first, said that performance impact should be "initially higher," indicating a spike in performance and tapering down over time.
By this time Intel has promised BIOS and firmware updates for 90 percent of Intel processors.
The third key statement about the issue was delivered by Intel Chief Executive Officer Brian Krzanich. This statement was delivered at this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES).
In the statement, Krzanich revealed that "some workloads may experience a larger impact than others." However, this statement was still considered as vague because the CEO did not specify what workloads are severely affected.
Krzanich did say in his speech that Intel will be more transparent about security vulnerabilities like Meldown and Spectre. He said that Intel will follow "rules of responsible disclosure."
He added that Intel will "commit to working with the industry"— meaning to share their hardware innovations to help other companies deal with these kinds of problems.
Meanwhile, the processor manufacturer also said that the performance impact will not be as significant on "average computer users." They recently released information corroborating this statement, which presumably includes the result of stress-testing some processors after updates. However, these tests are conducted on 8th generation Intel processors. No data was released for older Intel processors as of yet.
