Intel Class Action Lawsuit Alleges Meltdown and Spectre Defects Endanger Medical Records

An orthodontics office recently filed an Intel class action lawsuit, alleging that the security risks associated with the Meltdown/Spectre flaws have endangered electronic health records regulated by federal authorities.

Kottemann Orthodontics PLLC recently filed an Intel class action lawsuit against Intel Corporation, alleging that the company has forced the dental office to accrue additional costs in the attempt to manage risks associated with the Meltdown/Spectre flaws.

In January 2018, the news broke that Intel processor chips contained security vulnerabilities – since dubbed Meltdown and Spectre. These flaws allow vital data, usually only reserved for the operating system, to be read by software. Hackers can now exploit these flaws to gather sensitive information that would normally not be available, the plaintiff says.

“Due to the Defects, sensitive data that would otherwise be protected by the kernel memory isolation—including passwords, social security numbers, credit card and banking information, photographs, and other highly-sensitive private information—may be accessed by malicious programs and users,” the Intel class action lawsuit states.

Kottemann Orthodontics, an orthodontist office in Minnesota, argues that the threat goes deeper for healthcare providers. Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), healthcare providers such as Kottemann are required to protect patient medical records and make the records available in a secure fashion through Internet-connected servers. When faced with the threats posed by Meltdown and Spectre, healthcare providers are having to implement extensive, costly monitoring in order to ensure that patient data remains secure.

“Plaintiff and other Class members have incurred and will continue to incur costs to monitor protected information, including patient [electronic protected health information] and [electronic health records], for data breaches and other malicious activity,” the Intel class action lawsuit states. “Because the Defects can be mitigated, but not completely fixed, on existing hardware, these additional monitoring costs will continue until such time as Plaintiff and Class members purchase new CPUs.”

The orthodontics office also claims that Intel negligently violated its duties to consumers by failing to inform consumers of defects in a timely fashion and representing their products are safe and effective.

“Intel owed a duty of care to Plaintiff and members of the Class, arising out of the sensitive nature of the information stored, and out of the foreseeability that a serious defect in the Intel CPU’s architecture could have severe ramifications,” the Intel class action claims.

Kottemann Orthodontics seeks to represent all persons or entities in the Unites States who purchased an Intel CPU or device containing an Intel CPU since 2008, and who are subject to federal regulations regarding the protection of confidential third party information. The Intel class action lawsuit seeks compensatory damages, statutory damages, restitution, disgorgement, court costs, and attorney’s fees.

The Intel Class Action Lawsuit is Kottemann Orthodontics PLLC v. Intel Corporation, Case No. 3:18-cv-00935-HZ, in the United States District Court for the District of Oregon.

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