If you are a Mac or Windows user, then you must read this information. Why? Because all computers-desktop or laptop-using Intel chips that were manufactured in the last decade suffer a major security issue.

 

The massive security flaw spotted in these Intel chips have something to do with kernel software, which forced a redesign at the operating system, according to The Register report published this week. This means that programmers may attempt to overhaul the Linux kernel’s virtual memory system.

Intel chip flaw to slow down performance?

 

For Windows users, software giant Microsoft is expected to roll out changes in its Windows Operating system through a patch. The company said that the changes that will be introduced would be seeded to beta testers running Windows Insider builds for both November and December, respectively.

 

Tech analysts claim that the updates will be crucial to both Windows and Linux because it will surely hit the performance on Intel processors. Analysts are looking between 5 to 30 percent slowdown of performance depending on the Intel chip that you are using.

 

The good news is that the slowing down of performance may vary. Some would be able to feel a change; others won’t. Users should get an update as soon as possible because security analysts warned that the spotted security flaw posed a serious threat.

 

While it cannot be denied that some Intel chips have a design flaw, this recent flaw found in Intel processors may eventually expose confidential and protected information such as passwords. And since the flaw is at Intel x86-64 hardware, experts said that this would require an OS-level overwrite patch-overhauling the operating system of Windows, Linux, and macOS.

 

“Urgent development of a software mitigation is being done in the open and recently landed in the Linux kernel” in redacted form, “and a similar mitigation began appearing in NT kernels in November,” the Python Sweetness blog wrote earlier this week as quoted in Gizmodo.

 

“In the worst case, the software fix causes huge slowdowns in typical workloads … There are hints the attack impacts common virtualization environments including Amazon EC2 and Google Compute Engine,” it added.