Intel rolls out chip fix

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich announced Monday evening at CES 2018 in Las Vegas that his company would implement a software fix for widespread security problems in its processors. He promised fixes in the coming week to 90 percent of the processors made in the past five years and updates for the remainder of those processors by the end of the month. Krzanich did not address the company’s plans for older chips. But some security experts argue nothing short of a recall can fix the vulnerabilities. Two design flaws, known as Meltdown and Spectre, compromised Intel chipsets for computer and smartphones, opening up the possibility that hackers could access the identities and passwords of billions of users. Companies from Microsoft to Apple announced efforts to patch what’s known as side-channel vulnerabilities. Microsoft’s attempts to mitigate the vulnerabilities through software updates caused further problems when older systems built around non-Intel chipsets locked up when users tried to install the update. Microsoft has since withdrawn the update for those systems. Meanwhile, Krzanich is under scrutiny for unloading about $39 million of Intel stock and options prior to going public with the problem last Wednesday.