Intel knew about the massive security flaws…

By Tim Collins For Mailonline

PUBLISHED: 15:45 GMT, 4 January 2018 | UPDATED: 03:14 GMT, 5 January 2018

• The sale left Krzanich with the minimum 250,000 stock required by his contract 
• The plan was put in place just four months after Intel learned of the security bug
• The issues, known as Metldown and Spectre, could affect billions of gadgets
• Intel says the sale was planned in advance and has no connection to the flaws

Intel’s CEO cashed in $24 million (£18 million) worth of stock in the company, months after it was informed of a massive ‘design flaw’ in its chips.

Brian Krzanich took the decision to divest the maximum stake in the firm possible just four months after Intel found out about the security bug.

The issues, known as Metldown and Spectre, could affect billions of gadgets worldwide that are powered by the company’s CPUs.

They only came to public attention in recent days but, according to reports, the microprocessor manufacturer was informed in June last year.

The sale drew attention when it was originally announced, as it left Krzanich with just 250,000 stock in his firm, the minimum required by the terms of his employment.

The timing is likely to raise even more eyebrows after revelations in recent days about the scale of the problems facing Intel, as well as how much the CEO knew when the sale went through.

Intel says the sale was planned in advance as part of a standard deal and has no connection to the recently disclosed chip flaw, which affects processors built over the past decade.

In a statement to Business Insider UK, a representative for Intel said: ‘Brian’s sale is unrelated.

‘He continues to hold shares in-line with corporate guidelines.’ 

Executives at high powered firms often have plans in place to automatically sell part of their stocks or shares, precisely to avoid charges of trading on insider knowledge.

Krzanich sold 245,743 shares of stock he owned outright, as well as a further 644,135 shares that were part of rights specified in his contract, under such an arrangement.

But, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, this plan was only put in place on October 30.

INTEL’S TWO SECURITY VULNERABILITIES 

Two massive security flaws could put billions of people worldwide at risk of being hacked, in a shocking lapse affecting nearly all devices. 

Meltdown and Spectre could let cyber criminals steal passwords and other data from nearly every gadget containing chips from Intel, AMD and Arm, thanks to ‘design flaws’ in their manufacture.

The bugs affect desktops, laptops, servers, smartphones and tablets, as well as smart devices like baby monitors powered by processors from these manufacturers.  

Patches have been created by a number of device manufacturers to try and plug the huge security holes, but fixing the underlying issue will be extremely difficult.