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Intel warned Chinese tech firms of Spectre and Meltdown ahead of U.S. government
January 28, 2018 7:41 pm
Intel warned certain customers, including Chinese tech firms, of the Spectre and Meltdown security flaws before notifying the U.S. government, The Wall Street Journal reported. The flaws were first discovered by Google’s Project Zero team in June of last year. Intel held off on disclosing the issue while it worked on possible fixes. The company planned to make the announcement on January 9, but The Register broke the story on January 2. Intel then confirmed the news the next day.
Intel did notify several major tech firms in an effort to limit the potential damage and help work on fixes. However, a representative from the Department of Homeland Security said that the department did not learn of the flaws until the news was broken. Homeland Security is often notified of such issues before the public, and often acts as a source of guidance for how to address them.
The NSA was also uninformed of the problem. Rob Joyce, the White House’s top official on matters of cybersecurity, sent out a tweet saying that the NSA was unaware of the vulnerabilities.
Intel refused to name any of the companies it warned prior to the scheduled January 9 announcement. That being said, several of the companies had been identified, including Microsoft, Amazon, Chinese computer manufacturer Lenovo, and Chinese cloud-computing firm Alibaba Group Holding. A representative from Intel said that it had planned to brief others, including the U.S. government, prior to the January 9th announcement. However, the company said that it was unable to do so due to the fact that the story was reported sooner than expected.
Jake Williams, a former employee of the National Security Agency and current president of Rendition Infosec LLC, told the Wall Street Journal that the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities would have been of great interest to any intelligence organization.
Williams also warned that it is a “near certainty” that the Chinese government was aware of Spectre and Meltdown before the U.S., given that the Communist Party closely monitors such communications.
Representatives from the Chinese government did not comment on this story. However, in the past, the country’s foreign ministry has said that it is “resolutely opposed” to all forms of hacking.
www.digitaltrends.com/computing/intel-spectre-meltdown-warnings/