Intel CEO Brian Krzanich didn’t dodge the embarrassing issue of the Spectre and Meltdown bugs that rocked the whole computer industry in the past week. At his opening keynote at CES 2018, the big tech trade show in Las Vegas this week, Krzanich addressed the issue at the beginning.
The massive security flaw in computer processors emerged last week, forcing companies to respond and reassure customers and tell befuddled consumers what steps they are taking to protect them. The flaw is casting a potential pall on the CES, which is a celebration of all things tech.
“The collaboration of so many companies has been truly remarkable,” Krzanich said, noting that everyone from chip makers to operating system vendors to system companies has participated in finding ways to patch the bugs and protect consumer data.
Above: Intel CES keynote
“Security is job No. 1 for Intel and our industry, and the primary focus of our decisions have been to keep our customers’ data safe,” Krzanich said.
“We have no information these exploits have been used to obtain customer data,” Krzanich said. He also said that Intel’s software patches and other vendors’ updates would patch more than 90 percent of computers within a week, and a solution for all computers could be available by the end of the month.
“When we come together like this, there are endless possibilities,” he said.
The computing flaw was also addressed by Cristiano Amon, president of Qualcomm, at the company’s press event earlier in the day. I asked him if it would cause a delay in shipping Qualcomm chips, and he said he believed that the matter would be addressed through patches as well.
So far, the CEOs aren’t running away from the bug, and they’re being transparent about it. That’s probably good PR advice. Meanwhile, check out the amazing video below, which is more like the kind of thing that Krzanich would rather have talked about at CES.
