More than 30 lawsuits have been filed by Intel customers and shareholders against the chip giant following the disclosure of the Meltdown and Spectre attack methods.
Three class action lawsuits were filed against Intel within a week of the Meltdown and Spectre flaws being disclosed, but the number had reached 32 by February 15, according to an annual report submitted by Intel to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Lawsuits have been filed in the United States and other countries, and some complaints also target Intel’s directors and executives.
The company faces 30 class action lawsuits filed by customers who claim to have been harmed by Intel’s actions and/or omissions in connection to Meltdown and Spectre. Two securities class action lawsuits claim the company violated securities laws by making false or misleading statements, which had a negative impact on entities that acquired Intel stock between July 27, 2017 and January 4, 2018, when the processor vulnerabilities were disclosed.
“We dispute the claims described above and intend to defend the lawsuits vigorously,” Intel said. “Given the procedural posture and the nature of these cases, including that the proceedings are in the early stages, that alleged damages have not been specified, that uncertainty exists as to the likelihood of a class or classes being certified or the ultimate size of any class or classes if certified, and that there are significant factual and legal issues to be resolved, we are unable to make a reasonable estimate of the potential loss or range of losses, if any, that might arise from these matters.”
Three shareholder derivative lawsuits have also been filed in California against certain Intel officers and members of the company’s board of directors.
“The complaints allege that the defendants breached their duties to Intel in connection with the disclosure of the security vulnerabilities and the failure to take action in relation to alleged insider trading. The complaints seek to recover damages from the defendants on behalf of Intel,” Intel said.
While lawsuits and negative publicity may change the situation in the future, Intel currently does not expect Meltdown and Spectre to have a material financial impact on its business or operations.
AMD, ARM and Apple, whose processors rely on ARM technology, also face lawsuits over the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities.
Related: Device Manufacturers Working on BIOS Updates to Patch CPU Flaws
Related: IBM Releases Spectre, Meltdown Patches for Power Systems
Related: ICS Vendors Assessing Impact of Meltdown, Spectre Flaws
Eduard Kovacs (@EduardKovacs) is a contributing editor at SecurityWeek. He worked as a high school IT teacher for two years before starting a career in journalism as Softpedia’s security news reporter. Eduard holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial informatics and a master’s degree in computer techniques applied in electrical engineering.
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