AMD responds to security threats

Security issues related to modern microprocessors and speculative execution have been discovered. From this, AMD has declared that information security is a priority, with their security architects following the technology ecosystem for any new threats.

AMD has a dedicated team for discovering security issues and fixing them before any real damage is made. AMD worked closely with the technology ecosystem to understand findings and evaluate risks across their product portfolio. Due to micro architectural differences and O/S patches being deployed now, AMD believes there is near zero risk to AMD users.

AMD has researched about the threats and conducted research to describe how it relates to their products. However, AMD notes that:

The research described was performed in a controlled, dedicated lab environment by a highly knowledgeable team with detailed, non-public information about the processors targeted.

The described threat has not been seen in the public domain.

When AMD learned that researchers had discovered a new CPU attack targeting the speculative execution functionality used by multiple chip companies’ products, they immediately engaged across the ecosystem to address the teams’ findings.

The research team identified three variants within the speculative execution research. The below grid details the specific variants detailed in the research and the AMD response details.

As the security landscape continues to evolve, a collaborative effort of information sharing in the industry represents the strongest defense.

Total protection from all possible attacks remains an elusive goal and this latest example shows how effective industry collaboration can be.

As always, AMD strongly encourages its customers to consistently undertake safe computing practices, examples of which include: not clicking on unrecognized hyperlinks, following strong password protocols, using secure networks, and accepting regular software updates.