NVIDIA is also making sure that their graphics processing unit (GPU) users are secure after the central processing unit (CPU) security issue, as they have announced that they will be releasing a series of updates to counter the said meltdown.
That said, the GPU manufacturer did clarify that their graphics cards are not affected by the said security flaw and that their consumers have nothing to worry about. They simply wanted to help with the issue by introducing a security update of their own. So far, the security flaw, called Meltdown and Spectre have only affected CPUs, particularly the Intel brand.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang then assured everyone in The International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) technology trade in Las Vegas, Nevada, that their products are safe.
"Our GPUs are immune. They are not affected by these security issues," he shared. Rest assured, average NVIDIA users should have nothing to fear from either Meltdown or Spectre.
"What we did is we released driver updates to patch the CPU security vulnerability. We are patching the CPU vulnerability the same way that Amazon, the same way that SAP, the same way that Microsoft, etc is patching because we have software as well," said Huang. This means that NVIDIA is fixing the problem that may occur on their end like the other companies affected by the CPU security flaw.
Businesses which use servers and cloud data with NVIDIA GPUs also seem to have nothing to fear since NVIDIA's latest update for its GeForce drivers aims to prohibit any unauthorized access to the GPU. What the update from NVIDIA does is that it makes its GPUs work more securely with CPUs that are affected by Meltdown and Spectre. Basically, it is a means to adjust to the security flaw of the Intel CPUs until a more hardware-based solution is available.
Although not detrimental for the average user, this new update from NVIDIA might cause a delay in the operation of a data center, according to security analyst Hans Mosesmann since Nvidia's driver updates may be problematic for data centers using its GPUs for mathematically intensive calculations.
