Unfixable flaw in nearly all Intel chips released in the last five years could allow cyber criminals to hijack computers and wreak ‘utter chaos’
An unfixable flaw present in nearly all Intel chips released in the last five years could allow cyber criminals to hijack computers and wreak ‘utter chaos’, an expert warns.
The vulnerability arises because a security feature designed to protect malicious edits to the computer’s random-access memory does not launch quickly enough.
This creates a brief window of time in which hackers can run malicious code on start-up, with full system privileges, and bypass other security features.
Although Intel has released patches to make the weakness harder to exploit, the nature of the flaw means that it will likely not be possible to provide full protection.