Intel will patch all recent chips by the end of January
90 percent of recent processors affected by Meltdown/Spectre will see fixes this week.
The potential impact of the major processor security flaw that went public last week can't be understated. But hardware and software companies alike have been quick to patch fixes for the first two reported exploits, Meltdown and Spectre.
Intel, which to date is the company most affected by the exploits, already committed to patching "90 percent" of affected processors made in the past five years by the end of this week. Today on stage at CES, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich promised the remaining 10 percent would see fixes by the end of the month.
"We believe the performance impact of these updates is highly workload dependent," Krzanich said, referring to claims that processors may be slowed by as much as 30 percent as a result of the fixes. "We expect some may have a larger impact than others, so we'll continue working with the industry to minimize the impact on those workloads over time."
Krzanich reiterated Intel's stance that there's no evidence that either exploit has been used to steal customer data, and he said the company is "working tirelessly on these issues to ensure it stays that way."
There's still no word on a timeline for when affected processors made more than five years ago will be patched.
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