Intel rolls-out Ice Lake to address Intell’s recent waves of new attack vectors as hackers discover new ways to attack machines with ‘Intel Inside.’ Since “Intel Inside” was in most computers, these attacks made headlines, causing panic worldwide.
Intel responded slowly and somewhat haphazardly to the initial onslaught of Meltdown and Spectre attacks, but ultimately, they released some viable fixes leaving a scar on the company’s psyche. Since that time, security has been front and center for Intel, and Intel rolls-out the “Ice Lake” chip.
The new Ice Lake chips feature improved processor-based security feature Intel SGX. Intel SGX included in Ice Lake allows applications to run virtually walled-off from enclaves that provide robust hardware-based encryption. This gives rock-solid security to the Ice Lake and the data it is utilizing while running, with the goal being to minimize code injection style attacks and any snooping.
Intel is also adding Intel TME, which stands for Total Memory Encryption, a new feature with designs to protect the data accessed from the CPU, specifically including stored login credentials and encryption keys, by keeping it encrypted at all times and protecting against hardware attacks.
Finally, the new Ice Lake chips will also introduce Intel Platform Firmware Resilience (Intel PFR). This new system automatically detects firmware corruption and restores from a previous detection of a backup’s problem.
We’ll have to wait and see the new chips in action to know how successful these new additions will be. No doubt, some hacker somewhere in the world will find a hole in the armor, but the changes do indeed sound fantastic. It will be interesting to see them in action. Kudos to Intel for continuing to innovate with safety and security in mind.
