Thinking about buying a new computer - attack code for Intel chips

[Jeremy Chadwick]

On Tue, Jul 15, 2008 at 10:35:04AM +0200, Hans Petter Selasky wrote:
> According to the latest news on Slashdot there are now exploits going around 
> attacking INTEL CPU bugs. Does anyone have a clue about what architectures 
> and CPUs are safe? My computer is getting old and I might buy a new one. Any 
> recommendations for a safe choice?

Is this a trolling attempt?  It almost sounds like one.  The Slashdot
article reference in question:

http://conference.hitb.org/hitbsecconf2008kl/?page_id=214

There's no details provided.  It may all be speculative (I strongly
doubt it), but no one will know until the presentation takes place.

My advice to you is buy whatever it is you wish to buy.  Every computing
product that is released to consumers has bugs in it -- we're humans, we
make mistakes.  Besides, if the presentation involves present-day Intel
microprocessors, all that (should be) necessary is a microcode patch to
address the concerns.

It always amuses me how Intel always seems to draw scrutiny.  Yes,
because I'm absolutely sure AMD, VIA, and Transmeta processors are all
flawless.

-- 
| Jeremy Chadwick                                jdc at parodius.com |
| Parodius Networking                       http://www.parodius.com/ |
| UNIX Systems Administrator                  Mountain View, CA, USA |
| Making life hard for others since 1977.              PGP: 4BD6C0CB |