Delivering the promise of a new connected world, Intel is optimising its products for IoT devices. In 2016 alone, it shipped 40 million chipsets to device makers in China and has plans to reach 70 billion by 2020.
The “Inside Intel’s Secret Warehouse in Costa Rica” is a news article about the intel company’s warehouse that is located in Costa Rica. The article discusses how Intel has been using the location to store their products and also mentions some of the benefits that come with it.
Intel Corporation management realized they had an issue a few years ago. Every year, the corporation released hundreds of new items, from chips to software platforms, but it lacked a systematic system for classifying and archiving older technology so that researchers could evaluate it for security issues.
Some products, such as Sandy Bridge microprocessors (introduced in 2011 and phased out in 2013), were so hard to come by that Intel’s security experts had to scour the internet for them.
Mohsen Fazlian, general manager of Intel’s product assurance and security team, stated, “We had to really go on eBay and start hunting for these platforms.”
Subscribe to our newsletter
Cybersecurity WSJ Pro
WSJ’s worldwide team of reporters and editors provide cybersecurity news, analysis, and insights.
Intel’s problem is representative of a larger concern: legacy technology might pose cybersecurity flaws. Customers don’t always upgrade at the same time as tech companies update their goods to take advantage of increased speed and power. As a result, there is a long tail of outdated items that are still in use and susceptible to assaults.
Intel’s solution was to build a warehouse and laboratory in Costa Rica, where it already had a research and development facility, to keep the company’s technology and make the devices accessible for remote testing. The Long-Term Retention Lab was up and operating in the second half of 2019 after planning started in mid-2018.
Around 3,000 pieces of gear and software, dating back approximately a decade, are stored in the warehouse. Intel wants to expand next year, roughly tripling its capacity from 14,000 to 27,000 square feet, enabling it to store 6,000 pieces of computer equipment.
Engineers at Intel might request a particular computer in a specified configuration. It is then put together by a professional and made available through cloud services. The lab is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with an average of 25 engineers working each shift.
A Costa Rican engineer assembles a gadget for remote testing requested by security experts.
INTEL CORP. photo
The lab provides Intel, which is headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and employs over 100,000 people, with a centralized, secure facility where security checks may be performed from anywhere on the planet. Senior management regulate and authorize access to the facility, and security cameras monitor the equipment at all times. Even its location is a closely guarded secret—Intel officials refused to identify where it located.
According to Mr. Fazlian, the lab adds economic value to Intel, citing business data that indicates consumers are more willing to acquire technology from companies who test their goods ahead of time.
According to Fawn Taylor, senior director of corporate remediation programs for Intel’s product assurance and security unit, establishing the lab required bringing difficult-to-find equipment to Costa Rica, hiring engineers and computer scientists who could work on the machines, and enlisting accountants and managers to set up processes to make it work.
Engineers who had long ago moved on to other projects or even departed the business contributed at times. They assisted in the creation of technical documentation and shared what they understood about items from previous years, according to Ms. Taylor.
A manager at the facility, Marcel Cortes Beer, said the lab receives roughly 1,000 requests each month to manufacture equipment for remote security checks, with 50 new devices arriving weekly.
Anders Fogh, an Intel senior principle engineer located in Germany, said the facility rapidly became an important component of his job, especially when attempting to duplicate security issues revealed to Intel via its bug-bounty program by outside researchers. Recent Intel vulnerabilities include holes identified in its Safestring code library, which might enable hackers to obtain access to sensitive systems, and faults in drivers, which could allow attackers to gain access to sensitive systems.
Intel is extending its storage to accommodate 6,000 pieces of equipment.
INTEL CORP. photo
“I can create an identical clone of the system used by the submitting researcher.” Mr. Fogh said, “Same CPU, same operating system version, microcode, same BIOS.” “All of this increases the likelihood of replicating the problem, which is often the best place to start.”
For this study, the lab supplies isolated systems, which may be risky for hard-to-find equipment that are still in use in corporate contexts. According to Mr. Fogh, testing security vulnerabilities often causes systems to fail, resulting in data loss.
He described the facility’s “vast library of machines” as the “go-to venue for performing this type of work.”
Intel’s product development has been altered as a result of the lab. Mr. Fazlian said that all new technology is now designed with the facility in mind, with technical documentation developed to enable engineers to maintain it for up to ten years. Units are also delivered to the lab before being deployed.
“Hopefully, I’ll never have to look for Intel gear on eBay again,” he remarked.
James Rundle can be reached at [email protected]
More from the Wall Street Journal’s Pro Cybersecurity section
Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Watch This Video-
Related Tags
- where is costa rica on the map
- where to go in costa rica
- visiting costa rica
