PARIS, Nov 18: Researchers have discovered a fundamental flaw in microprocessor technology that could allow hackers to obtain computer users' secret information, French daily Le Monde said on Saturday.

A team, led by German cryptology expert Jean-Pierre Seifert, has discovered that chips are now more vulnerable because of the way they are manufactured to process data more quickly.

“Security has been sacrificed for the benefit of performance,” Le Monde quoted Seifert as saying. Seifert's research envisages that hackers will find it far easier and quicker in the future using a small piece of spy software that tracks microchips.

In a still-confidential study, Seifert and his colleagues explain how they managed “in only one attempt” to obtain a 512-bit encryption key in just a few thousandths of a second.—AFP