Intel Warned China of Meltdown and Spectre Before the US Government

[btarunr]

It's no surprise that leading Chinese tech companies have close associations with the Chinese Government and the PLA. Intel has waded into controversial waters as reports point to the chipmaker sharing information about its products' vulnerability to Meltdown and Spectre with Chinese tech companies before warning the United States Government, potentially giving the Chinese government either a head-start into securing its IT infrastructure, or exploiting that of a foreign government.

Lenovo and Alibaba were among the first big tech companies to be informed about Meltdown and Spectre; Lenovo is Intel's biggest PC OEM customer, while Alibaba is the world's largest e-commerce platform and cloud-computing service provider. Both companies are known to have close associations with the Chinese government. The United States Government was not part of the first group of companies informed about the deadly vulnerabilities.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Eric3988]

Very suspicious, especially considering Intel knew about the vulnerabilities for some time before disclosing them publicly.

 

[cmmw]

US / NSA already know and been using it for 15 years no need to be informed, they are most likely the paid contractor for this backdoor to be part of the design in the first place... too bad... these three backdoors are compromised... hope the groups that found this flaw are not going to assassinated by the NSA, stay alive guys.

 

[thesmokingman]

Whoa, nice one Intel.

 

[ArchStupid]

US / NSA already know and been using it for 15 years no need to be informed, they should be the paid contractor for this backdoor to be in the design in the first place... too bad... these three backdoors are compromised... hope the groups that found this flaw are not going to assassinated by the NSA, stay alive guys.

Holy tinfoil hat.

 

[Patriot]

Holy tinfoil hat.

Only half of it... lol.

US / NSA already know and been using it for 15 years no need to be informed, they are most likely the paid contractor for this backdoor to be part of the design in the first place... too bad... these three backdoors are compromised... hope the groups that found this flaw are not going to assassinated by the NSA, stay alive guys.

Little to no risk... all signs point to a retiring of a backdoor... not some lucky punks finding it and disclosing it.

 

[rtwjunkie]

US / NSA already know and been using it for 15 years no need to be informed, they are most likely the paid contractor for this backdoor to be part of the design in the first place... too bad... these three backdoors are compromised... hope the groups that found this flaw are not going to assassinated by the NSA, stay alive guys.

I was going to compliment you on your tinfoil conspiracy defense hat, yet here ya are, online.

 

[R-T-B]

Only half of it... lol.

No, pretty sure all of it.

 

[R0H1T]

I wonder how many will still back Intel after these revelations, tbh not surprising for me at all.

Holy tinfoil hat.

The same was said before the Snowden revelations, at this point in time nothing should surprise anyone. Such state secrets however, rarely come out in the open.

 

[thesmokingman]

US / NSA already know and been using it for 15 years no need to be informed, they are most likely the paid contractor for this backdoor to be part of the design in the first place... too bad... these three backdoors are compromised... hope the groups that found this flaw are not going to assassinated by the NSA, stay alive guys.

Is this like some reach around way of excusing Intel?

 

[natr0n]

This doesn't look good for Intel.

Some will probably think/say intel are supporting the "commies" over the US.

 

[Melvis]

Chinese market is alot bigger then USA so that doesnt surprise me at all

 

[TheLostSwede]

Chinese market is alot bigger then USA so that doesnt surprise me at all

For what, rice?
I don't think Intel sells nearly as many CPUs in China as it does in the US.

 

[Space Lynx]

USA Congress only cares about their own bank accounts, doubt they even care about this news or even pursue in investigation. lol

 

[silentbogo]

Should be renamed to "Intel shares the Spectre/Meltdown information with two of their biggest international partners before warning the US govt.".
From my perspective it makes no difference who gets this info, before it becomes publicly known. The only difference is that in case of Alibaba and Lenovo it's a vital piece of info for creating temporary remedies and patches for their hardware, data centers and cloud services, and in case of US - yet another cyberweapon against all "evil non-democtratic" threats in the world.

Not saying that either scenario is right, but think of it this way: sharing an unpatched vulnerability with public before it is patched creates a window of opportunity for hackers to exploit it before hardware manufacturers and large data centers even have a chance to do something about it. Since their proactive partners like Google and MS already knew about it, Intel did the next logical thing: warn the lazy fat partners like Lenovo and Alibaba.

For what, rice?
I don't think Intel sells nearly as many CPUs in China as it does in the US.

That's way too naive... Don't forget that nearly everything is made in China, including Intel-powered laptops, AIOs, tablets, phones, STBs, etc.
If US was really a leading consumer of Intel CPUs, then I would've probably switched my supply of replacement Core-U and Core-Y chips to US at least for the sake of faster shipping.
US may be on the receiving stick of this product chain, but they are not the ones who actually buys CPUs directly from Intel.
Retail sales of Intel desktop chips for consumers is only a small fraction of Intel's business.

 

[Melvis]

For what, rice?
I don't think Intel sells nearly as many CPUs in China as it does in the US.

LOL nice one xD

I think Steam stats alone will back me up on this one, there is 2billion Chinese and 80% play PUBG, so do the maths

 

[john_]

I guess Intel was fearing more the Chinese government than the US government. Also probably they where trusting more Chinese officials to keep a secret than US officials. I wonder why...

 

[Vayra86]

Where is the source? The link points to an early report on Spectre and Meltdown - no relation at all to this story.

Honestly, I'm questioning the credibility of half these 'news' articles right now.

 

[DRDNA]

That's way too naive... Don't forget that nearly everything is made in China, including Intel-powered laptops, AIOs, tablets, phones, STBs, etc.
If US was really a leading consumer of Intel CPUs, then I would've probably switched my supply of replacement Core-U and Core-Y chips to US at least for the sake of faster shipping.
US may be on the receiving stick of this product chain, but they are not the ones who actually buys CPUs directly from Intel.
Retail sales of Intel desktop chips for consumers is only a small fraction of Intel's business.

While yes this is true about Intel it will NOT be True in the near future! MAGA will wreck it for the betterment of the USA and as a USA citizen I welcome the change! Also we will see Intel pay for this situation with USA courts ruling them to pay out https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/...rosoft-and-amazon-for-spectre-secrecy.241032/ (but only time will tell).IMO

 

[remixedcat]

ok this is making my blood boil, time to go back to amd!!! ugh!

 

[john_]

Where is the source? The link points to an early report on Spectre and Meltdown - no relation at all to this story.

Honestly, I'm questioning the credibility of half these 'news' articles right now.

Probably this one
Intel Warned Chinese Companies of Chip Flaws Before U.S. Government - WSJ

I wonder how many will still back Intel after these revelations

Looking at Intel prices. Looking at FPS counter. Still faster than AMD.
Reaction: "I love Intel"
Needing to upgrade motherboard to upgrade processor. Looking at FPS counter. Still faster than AMD.
Reaction: "I love Intel"
Hearing about Intel's monopolistic tactics. Looking at FPS counter. Still faster than AMD.
Reaction: "I love Intel"
Hearing about security problems in Intel processors. Looking at FPS counter. Still faster than AMD.
Reaction: "I love Intel"
Hearing that Intel informed Chinese before US government. Looking at FPS counter. Still faster than AMD.
Reaction: "I love Intel"
....

 

[Dave65]

About what id expect out of Intel, or any major company.

 

[Vya Domus]

Probably this one
Intel Warned Chinese Companies of Chip Flaws Before U.S. Government - WSJ


Looking at Intel prices. Looking at FPS counter. Still faster than AMD.
Reaction: "I love Intel"
Needing to upgrade motherboard to upgrade processor. Looking at FPS counter. Still faster than AMD.
Reaction: "I love Intel"
Hearing about Intel's monopolistic tactics. Looking at FPS counter. Still faster than AMD.
Reaction: "I love Intel"
Hearing about security problems in Intel processors. Looking at FPS counter. Still faster than AMD.
Reaction: "I love Intel"
Hearing that Intel informed Chinese before US government. Looking at FPS counter. Still faster than AMD.
Reaction: "I love Intel"
....

Meh , most people can't afford the top of line Intel CPUs , so it's not that. They love 'em out of pure fanboysm.

 

[rtwjunkie]

intel did what any major manufacturer would do: Inform your biggest clients first.

 

[silentbogo]

While yes this is true about Intel it will NOT be True in the near future! MAGA will wreck it for the betterment of the USA and as a USA citizen I welcome the change! Also we will see Intel pay for this situation with USA courts ruling them to pay out https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/...rosoft-and-amazon-for-spectre-secrecy.241032/ (but only time will tell).IMO

BTW, this reminded me of another aspect of Intel <=> US govt. relationship. Last year Trump signed something-something-piece-of-paper regarding approval of Intel's new 7nm fab in AZ. Maybe that's why US officials are really mad about not being the first in line of communication