Intel CEO: We're addressing Meltdown, Spectre flaws with hardware 'partitions'

Dive Brief:

Intel is redesigning parts of its processors by adding partitions, which will protect devices against exploit variants, according to an announcement from CEO Brian Krzanich. The announcement comes almost four months after the disclosure Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities
The partitions are to serve as "protective walls" between apps and user privilege levels to obstruct actions from malicious actors, according to Krzanich. The first changes will be seen on Intel Xeon Scalable and 8th Generation Intel Core processors, due out the second half of 2018.
As for software updates, 100% of impacted Intel products from the last five years have been issued microcode updates. Krzanich recommends continuous software updates to ensure all security protocols remain up to date.

Dive Insight:

In January, Intel faced widespread scrutiny for its handling of the Meltdown and Spectre exploits. The bug impacted nearly every computer owner but researchers found that the flaws left no traces in "traditional log files," making it almost impossible to know if a computer's memory had been exploited.

Meltdown specifically targeted almost every Intel processor dating back to 1995. In response, the company was quick to point out Spectre also made other chip providers compromisable.

Intel issued two different holds on its patches for the bugs after reports of "higher system reboots." The company needed more time to develop patches that targeted the root issue of the bug and reboot issues. Still, by the time the company told customers to halt updates, about 70% of organizations had already began to patch their systems.

But Intel diving deeper into the root issue of the bug speaks volumes to the security implications computer owners face as result of the bug. The software updates were mere risk mitigation tools, not a complete resolution.

Initially, Intel said there would be no recall of the vulnerable chips. While this is still the case, future owners of Intel processors should be able to expect an added layer of protection previous versions lacked.