Executives from AMD, ARM, and Intel will get to explain themselves in front of US lawmakers at some point in 2018. California Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-Stockton) penned a letter to the CEOs of the three tech companies – McNerney, a House Energy and Commerce Committee member, isn't happy with the current state of cybersecurity.
Part of the letter, which I think adds the emphasis (in a high-level view) related to cybersecurity threats:
”The Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities are glaring warning signs that we must take cybersecurity more seriously. In recent years, we witnessed the largest global ransomware attack in history and the largest distributed-denial-of-service attack of its kind in history. The warning signs keep piling on, yet cybersecurity practices continue to lag far behind.”
Meltdown impacts Intel CPUs, while AMD and ARM are exposed by the Spectre cyber threat. Trying to figure out how to sort out how to defend against attacks – a difficult battle that the cybercriminals seem to be winning – the consumers tend to be the ones getting victimized.
During the briefing, lawmakers wants the executives ready to address a number of different topics, including: scope of both cybersecurity vulnerabilities; when the companies learned about the threats; how they plan to mitigate potential risk posed to consumers; and more.
