Intel's CEO Not Worried By Major Chip Flaw

Over the next few weeks, you may notice a dramatic slowdown in your PC or laptop. For the past decade, there has been a critical design flaw in Intel's chip processors that allows user programs to understand the layouts and contents of memory protected areas of the kernel. This flaw could allow hackers or malware to read that protected kernel memory which often contains critical secure data such as passwords and login keys, as well as recently cached files. The bug could also allow for the discovery of the randomized locations that the kernel uses in virtual memory to thwart the use of existing bugs within the kernel. Even worse, software could be built that uses these protected areas to execute instructions that would normally be blocked, opening up a huge whole in protecting the system.

The bug cannot be fixed with a microcode update to the firmware so it is up the operating systems to handle this problem. Fixes for Linux and Windows are being forced out now or in the coming days. Unfortunately, benchmark testing of these changes shows that performance may be reduced by a whopping 30%, depending on the task and chip in question. That is a pretty enormous hit to processing power.

You would think this would be bad news for Intel and it was, as its stock price dropped from near 47 at close of business on January 2nd to just above 43 early on January 4th. That was a bummer for regular investors in Intel. But not for Intel CEO Brian Krzanich. Because of the obvious concerns about exploitation, security holes like the one found in Intel's chips are usually not announced to the public until a fix is ready to be released. And that was the case with this Intel bug. But, within a week of being informed about the security hole and months before the rest of us poor mortals knew there was any issue, Krzanich dumped $24 million of his own Intel stock, leaving him with just the minimum 250,000 shares he is required to hold under his employment contract.

Like others before him, Krzanich claims this was just a coincidence and all part of a predetermined plan of sales. But that "plan" was actually put in place AFTER Intel knew of their chip's vulnerability. Krzanich's total compensation in 2016 came to nearly $20 million.

Krzanich has nothing to worry about. Just like with the Equifax executives who dumped their stock before its massive data breach became public, the company will investigate and "find" that the sales were all legitimate. The SEC and the DOJ will "investigate" but decide to take no action. And just like Equifax CEO Richard Smith, Krzanich will probably gracefully retire with an enormous golden parachute and leave his troubles behind. Meanwhile, individual investors will have lost money and millions of users will suffer. Welcome to the corporatocracy! Intel inside!