1. This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn More.

Arrgh, Another Intel CPU Insecurity

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by cloasters, Mar 28, 2018.

  1. cloasters

    cloasters Moderator

    Joined:
    Jul 3, 2013
    Messages:
    8,383
    Likes Received:
    82
    Trophy Points:
    48
  2. booman

    booman Grand High Exalted Mystic Emperor of Linux Gaming Staff Member

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2012
    Messages:
    8,278
    Likes Received:
    614
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Linux, Virginia
    Home page:
    I wonder if Intel has known about this all along?

    You would think something like this would have been patched secretly by now, but its sad to have the public informed of a security risk before Intel can fix it.
  3. Daniel~

    Daniel~ Chief BBS Administrator Staff Member

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2012
    Messages:
    11,172
    Likes Received:
    161
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Location:
    Greenwater WA
    Home page:
    Shoot, this could impact me...I mean us , I meant us! ":O}
  4. cloasters

    cloasters Moderator

    Joined:
    Jul 3, 2013
    Messages:
    8,383
    Likes Received:
    82
    Trophy Points:
    48
    Does Intel WANT to fix it? As it was most probably put into its procs at the behest of those whom call the shots, I have my doubts. Me paranoid?
  5. Gizmo

    Gizmo Chief Site Administrator Staff Member

    Joined:
    Dec 6, 2012
    Messages:
    2,230
    Likes Received:
    156
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Location:
    Webb City, Missouri
    Home page:
    Meh.

    It's still part of the same set of side-channel attacks we already know about, and should be mostly fixed by the approaches already out or in development, with maybe some small tweaks required here or there to cover the full spectrum.

    Don't get me wrong, it's good that people are looking at this stuff. But Intel's name is already mud with the people that care, and for the rest, they either really don't care or they see it as an opportunity to make money. Either way, the net result is, as I said above "Meh".
  6. Daniel~

    Daniel~ Chief BBS Administrator Staff Member

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2012
    Messages:
    11,172
    Likes Received:
    161
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Location:
    Greenwater WA
    Home page:
    To George
    Yeah...maybe just a bit.":O}

    Here's how I see this:

    Intel is working in a world of extremes. Extremely small, extremely fast extremely complex in an extremely complicated world. Here's what the wise say of extremity:

    "Everything that goes to extremes meets with misfortune."

    In extremity we cut ourselves off from the possibility of support. Nature supports what clings to the middle. That which ventures forth, yet does not go to far.

    Who can Intel go to when in difficulties?

    Who has made these mistakes before and can offer constructive criticism?

    Here I borrow from Wilhelm"s lecture on the I-Ching

    "The truly new is seldom beautiful."
    Imagine that first lump of clay that was placed upon the first potter's wheel...Imagine the dumb ass mistakes that were made on the way to creating "The Grecian urn"

    If we reflect we can see that Intel for all her might and power is still in her baby days. Still has many dumb ass mistakes, costly mistakes yet to make.

    Do I think this intentional in any way?
    Yeah they may have covered up, hoping to solve before they reveal..I can't really blame them. To reveal an liability before one can correct it really isn't a sound strategy for a chip maker. You would only increase the damages to your customers.

    Everyone in power would love to have Intel slip in a back-door, or think they would.
    But the reality is that a door is a door and anyone can open it.
    The greater reality is the the technology is in continuous advance. What no can know today, everyone will know tomorrow.

    There is simply no way to cheat on a chip that won't come back to bite you in the ass. Remember there are Millions of chips in millions of hands. Some of those hands spend their day trying to unlock Intel's secrets.

    A deliberate flaw would need to serve a purpose, would it not? When the flaw is found the purpose will be known if it exists, it simply cannot be covered up for more than a few years.

    So I tend to dismiss the thought that Intel sabotaged their own future by deliberately screwing up their own present. I just don;t see the motivation.

    We're still just in our baby days with this. My hope is that we grow-up before the tech does.

    A last thought about extremity...
    In extremity things change.

    As a careless staggering drunk suddenly sobers when his regaling affords him a view of the bottom of the cliff he regals upon.
    We may at the very edge of the cliff we are about to go off come to our senses and turn back before we lose all.
    If hope is all we have, we can not afford to be depressed!

    Stay alert, we may yet have a chance to turn this all around.

    Our children have started speaking with the tongues of angles,
    seeking the peace we so long withheld from them.

    "And a little child shall shall lead them..."
    What remains to be seen is will we follow?

    Sorry if I digress some how it all seems to me to be of the same bite the same taste.
    Ah I see the connection I wished to make, but didn't...Baby days....First we create, then we refine, tis in clays refinement that we come upon the urn.
  7. cloasters

    cloasters Moderator

    Joined:
    Jul 3, 2013
    Messages:
    8,383
    Likes Received:
    82
    Trophy Points:
    48
    Looks like "meh" should feature more largely in my brain. Thanks for the replies, they are far better than "meh."
  8. cloasters

    cloasters Moderator

    Joined:
    Jul 3, 2013
    Messages:
    8,383
    Likes Received:
    82
    Trophy Points:
    48

Share This Page