Intel

TORONTO, February 27, 2018 – Rochon Genova LLP launched a class action lawsuit in the Ontario Superior Court against Intel, Microsoft, Lenovo, Apple, Dell, and Hewlett Packard. The claim stems from the recently disclosed and widespread “Spectre” and “Meltdown” defects, which allowed consumers’ private and confidential information to be made publicly available.

The claim alleges that Intel, as the manufacturer of CPU chips, and Microsoft, Lenovo, Apple, Dell, and Hewlett Packard computers containing Intel’s CPU chips, marketed these defective products to consumers that made their computers vulnerable to being hacked.

The claim alleges that all of the Defendants knew of the defect from at least June 2017. The claim also alleges that none of the Defendants warned consumers of this chip defect, but rather continued to offer the defective CPUs and computers that used the defective CPU.

“Consumers are extremely concerned over these serious security breaches and about having been kept in the dark for months while their computers were vulnerable to attack” said Joel P. Rochon, partner at Rochon Genova LLP, whose firm, with a team of lawyers from Bell Temple LLP led by Katherine E. Kolnhofer, is representing class members. “This type of vulnerability is particularly serious in the current climate of exponentially increasing cybersecurity threats. This defect has resulted in consumers being unknowingly exposed to an attack vector for which the defendants must be held accountable” added Kolnhofer.

There is no effective “fix” for the defective CPUs. Software updates that add some level of security, known as “patches”, cause the CPUs to operate up to 30% slower. Further, it is not certain that these “patches” are effective. The only way to ensure that the security vulnerability is addressed is a complete replacement of the computer’s CPU. Many consumers have been forced to spend money replacing their defective CPUs, or replacing their entire computer.

Intel has admitted that sensitive data can be improperly gathered by hackers from user computers through Intel’s CPUs, and Microsoft, Lenovo, Apple, Dell, and Hewlett Packard have released their own security updates in an attempt to stop the flow of sensitive information from their products.