Intel: some processors will never receive Meltdown and Spectre patches

With little fanfare, Intel has revealed that some processors will simply never receive microcode updates that will patch against the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities. In a document entitled Microcode Revision Guidelines, the chip-maker says that a wide range of processor families -- equating to over 200 CPUs -- will not receive any more updates. While the majority of the affected chips were on sale between 2007 and 2011, it's safe to assume that a large proportion of them are still in use, meaning that a lot of systems will remain unprotected. See also: Intel unveils hexacore mobile Core i9 chip… [Continue Reading]