Critical computer flaws set up security challenge in Washington

Two critical vulnerabilities that affect modern computer processing chips are about to become a huge headache for governments worldwide. The vulnerabilities could allow hackers to pilfer sensitive data from virtually all modern computing devices, ranging from computers to smartphones to cloud infrastructure. Experts believe that they may be the most dangerous computer processor flaws to date.

The Department of Homeland Security issued guidance on the matter late Jan 3, noting that while operating system updates could help mitigate the issues, the only true solution would be to replace computer processing units' hardware. This means that mitigating the flaws will likely cost federal, state and local governments a significant amount of time, money and effort.  The cyber-flaws, which were originally believed to only be in Intel chips, affect an array of chip vendors including, AMD, Google, Microsoft and Apple, and impacts millions of modern computing systems developed over the last decade.