Editorials

As most people are aware, AMD dropped the first GPUs to utilize HBM (High Bandwidth Memory). These GPUs use a form of HBM called 2.5D which requires the use of an interproser layer than both the memory and the GPU sit on. This is opposed to the 3D stack in which the memory sits on top of the processor that owns it. The traditional stacking of 3D Memory provides significant performance benefits, but would require a different chip for every memory density you plan on releasing. In the GPU world this can be a big problem and is why both AMD and NVIDIA have opted for the 2.5D method.

When things are not quite right you always hope for that “ah-ha” moment when everyone realizes the issue and will actually begin to work on a solution. For connected devices we have been hoping for that since they were first introduced and are still waiting for the industry to have that moment. We thought that perhaps it would happen when a host of connected cameras were compromised allowing people to spy on and even talk to children that were being monitored by them. However, while the hole was covered up with tape (not really fixed) there was no general outcry to have these connected devices secure properly.

Back in 2007 or so I was asked to write a white paper on the subject of why Intel was able to pass AMD as quickly as they did. This is back in the AM2+ days when Intel was dropping Conroe on the world. Many people were surprised that Intel made this shift so quickly when you consider how badly AMD had beaten the P4. It was incorrectly assumed that AMD had reach a peak that Intel could not touch. Because of this they did not push their advantage. Instead they opted to move in a very different direction and purchase ATi for way more money than they should have. This one move started the long decline of AMD as we knew it. It was a massive strategic error and it all came down to one thing. A failure of management and stockholders’ to imagine that Intel could so easily blow past AMD’s performance lead. This type of failure can have catastrophic consequences in the business world and in security.

This is not the first time that I have spoken out about cloud computing (internet based, or the Internet of Things and the way they are impacting the ability to secure a network. It is also not going to be the last. Simply put, the concept that everything needs to be controlled by a computer and talk back to some sort of internet based cloud show a level of ignorance that should not still be out there. Sadly it is and companies are still trying to push the cloud and connected device mentality despite the inherent and known security flaws that exist.