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TECHNOLOGYFriday 5 January 2018
AP Explains: Who’s affected by computer chip security flaw
By MATT O’BRIEN In this July 20, 2011 file photo, Intel corporate offices are seen in Santa Clara, Calif. WHAT TO DO NEXT?
AP Technology Writer Associated Press There are limits to what
Technology companies consumers can do now to
are scrambling to fix seri- in many of the world’s PCs. rity problems until fixes are processors. AMD chips are protect their computers.
ous security flaws affecting Researchers say one of the available so that hackers also common in PCs, while Advice from the U.S Com-
computer processors built bugs, called Meltdown, af- wouldn’t have a roadmap ARM chips are found in puter Emergency Readi-
by Intel and other chip- fects nearly every proces- to exploit the flaws. But in many smartphones and ness Team’s was grim. The
makers and found in many sor it’s made since the mid- this case, Intel was forced other internet-connected federal organization says
of the world’s personal 1990s. to disclose the problem products, including cars that “fully removing the vul-
computers and smart- While security flaws are Wednesday after British and home appliances. nerability” requires replac-
phones. typically limited to a spe- technology site The Regis- AMD said there is “near zero ing the hardware already
The two hardware bugs dis- cific company or product, ter reported it, causing In- risk” to its own processors, embedded in millions of
covered can be exploited Intel says the problem is tel’s stock to fall. either because its chips computing devices.
to allow the memory con- “not a bug or a flaw in In- Most of the immediate are designed differently, or That’s not to say nothing
tent of a computer to be tel products” but rather a fixes will be limited to the security fixes for Microsoft can be done.
leaked. Such a leak could broader problem affect- Meltdown bug. The other, Windows and other oper- Consumers can mitigate
potentially expose stored ing processing techniques Spectre, is harder to fix, but ating systems will take care the underlying vulnerability
passwords and other sen- common to modern com- also harder to exploit, mak- of the problem. ARM Hold- by making sure they patch
sitive data, including per- puting platforms. ing it less of an immediate ings said it’s working with up their operating systems
sonal photos, emails and Both the chipmaker and threat to consumer devic- Intel, AMD and operating with the latest software up-
instant messages. Google, which informed es. system vendors to address grades. There are already
Researchers at Google’s Intel about the vulner- OTHER CHIPMAKERS the problem. The ARM de- Meltdown patches for Mi-
Project Zero and academ- ability last year, said they While researchers say the sign is also used in Apple’s crosoft’s Windows, Apple’s
ic institutions including the were planning to disclose Meltdown bug is limited to mobile chips; Apple didn’t macOS and Linux. Mozilla
Graz University of Technol- the issue next week when Intel processors, they have immediately respond to in- says it’s also implement-
ogy in Austria discovered fixes will be available. Tech verified Spectre as a prob- quiries on whether iPhones ing a short-term mitigation
the problem last year and companies typically with- lem for Intel, Advanced and other mobile products that disables some capa-
disclosed it Wednesday. hold details about secu- Micro Devices and ARM are affected. bilities of its Firefox brows-
There’s no evidence that er. Google says Android
bad actors have yet ex- devices are protected if
ploited the bugs, but com- they have the latest secu-
panies from Microsoft to rity updates. “If you down-
Mozilla said this week they load the latest update
have worked to patch up from Microsoft, Apple, or
vulnerabilities to their oper- Linux, then the problem is
ating systems and browsers fixed for you and you don’t
to protect against one of have to worry,” security re-
the bugs. But researchers searcher Rob Graham said
say the other is harder to fix in a blog post Thursday. “If
and “will haunt us for quite you aren’t up to date, then
some time.” there’s a lot of other nas-
Here’s a look at what’s af- ties out there you should
fected, what’s being done probably also be worrying
about it and whether you about.” Graham says fixing
should worry. the problem will require a
INTEL INSIDE major design of processors
Intel is at the center of the and operating systems, but
problem because it sup- that’s not something most
plies the processors used consumers will notice.q
Facebook CEO’s 2018
challenge: Fix Facebook
NEW YORK (AP) — Mark focus on protecting Face-
Zuckerberg says his “per- book users from abuse,
sonal challenge” for 2018 defending against inter-
is to fix Facebook. ference by nation-states
The Facebook CEO has and “making sure that
declared a goal each time spent on Facebook
year since 2009. is time well spent.”
Past challenges have It won’t be easy. Last
included wearing a tie year was tough for the
every day, learning to company.
speak Mandarin and eat- It included having to
ing meat only from ani- testify before Congress
mals he killed himself. about Russian election
Last year, he visited every meddling using its plat-
U.S. state he hadn’t been form, and harsh criticism
to yet. from early employees
Zuckerberg wrote Thurs- and investors about its
day that he now wants to role in the world.q
