Intel modifies at silicon level its future processors thinking about meltdown and specter
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Intel continues to work to fix the Meltdown and Specter vulnerabilities in its processors. After the release of patches for its Sandy Bridge or higher models, the company is working on making modifications at the silicon level, in the chips that will arrive at the end of this year 2018.
Intel adds protection barriers within the design of the chips
The first vulnerability of Specter has been totally solved with the patches released by both Intel and Microsoft, this second one at the operating system level through Windows Update. However, the second variant of Specter and the Meltdown vulnerability cannot be fully solved at the software level, so modifications at the silicon level are required.
We recommend reading our post on Best processors on the market (February 2018)
Intel has been working on the design of "partitions", to protect its future processors against variant 2 of Specter. Those partitions will appear for the first time within the next-generation Xeon, codenamed Cascade Lake, and are also expected to be present in the unknown eighth-generation Core models, which will appear during the second half of 2018. Intel has said that these partitions will reinforce protection barriers between applications, and privileged user levels, which take advantage of both Specter and Meltdown using speculative execution techniques.
Intel said in May that the Xeon Cascade Lake chips will offer native compatibility with what Intel calls "persistent memory, " essentially an Optane or 3D XPoint storage solution, within a DRAM form factor. It is unclear if the Cascade Lake desktop chips will include the same persistent memory support. Hopefully, over the next few weeks we will have more details on these new and interesting changes.
Intel publishes the list of processors affected by specter and meltdown
Intel recently released a complete list of processors affected by Specter & Meltdown. What is causing such a stir these days.
Intel will solve meltdown and specter at the silicon level this year 2018
Intel has revealed that the company plans to launch its new products this year 2018 with a silicon-level solution for Meltdown and Specter.
Intel talks about specter and meltdown, in addition to its processes at 14 nm and 10 nm
In a recent conference call with JP Morgan, Intel has addressed issues like 10nm production, 14nm longevity, and Specter / Meltdown vulnerabilities in great detail.
