Intel chief executive Brian Krzanich told employees Monday that he will create a new internal security group, a week after news leaked about a major flaw in computer microprocessors.

In a sign of the fresh importance Intel is placing on security, Krzanich reassigned several top executives to the new organization. The changes, effective immediately, came just ahead of Krzanich's keynote address Monday night to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

"It is critical that we continue to work with the industry, to excel at customer satisfaction, to act with uncompromising integrity, and to achieve the highest standards of excellences," Krzanich told employees in a memo Monday, obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive. "Simply put, I want to ensure we continue to respond appropriately, diligently, and with a customer-first attitude."

Intel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Intel human resources chief Leslie Culbertson will run the new group, called Intel Product Assurance and Security. Culbertson has been with Intel since 1979 and had previously served as director of its finance organization and as general manager for systems manufacturing. She's a graduate of Lewis & Clark College in Portland.

Josh Walden, head of Intel's new technology group, will leave that post to work for Culbertson in the new organization.

Additionally, Krzanich assigned Steve Smith, an Intel vice president and general manager of its data center engineering group, to Cublertson's new organization. Smith briefed investors on the security issue last week, shortly after news of the problem leaked.

"Security is Job No. 1 for Intel and our industry," Krzanich said Monday night in his address in Las Vegas.

Several months ago, security researchers at Google - along with others acting independently - uncovered a technique whereby features designed to improve microprocessor performance could be exploited to give access to restricted areas of computer memory.

No one has reported instances of hackers using this technique, but it could allow unauthorized access to passwords, files or other sensitive information. Researchers call the flaws "Meltdown" and "Spectre."

The flaw affects many classes of processors, from Apple's iPhones to powerful Intel servers, and it isn't limited to Intel chips. Intel and other companies have been working in secret for months in hopes of fixing the flaws.

However, Intel was clearly caught off guard when word of the issue leaked last week. The company was silent initially, then called reports about the flaw "wildly inaccurate."

It soon became obvious, though, that the security issue represented a major problem for computer makers and software companies. Intel moved quickly to issue security patches, while Apple, Microsoft and others began updating their operating systems to guard against the issue.

Intel says it has issued updates for more than 90 percent of its microprocessors issued in the past five years and says more updates are coming within the next few weeks. Initial reports suggested any fix could significantly slow computer performance.

"We expect some workloads may have a larger impact than others," Krzanich said Monday night. He said Intel will continue working to mitigate those impacts.

Intel has said previously it doesn't expect any material impact to its business or technology from the security flaw.

Nonetheless, Krzanich has faced questions about why he moved to sell millions of dollars in Intel stock before disclosing the security risk. Intel says the stock sales were "unrelated" to the security issue.

Intel has reorganized several times since Krzanich became CEO in 2013 as the company has repositioned itself to be less reliant on PCs and laptops. The company is now focused on data centers, computer memory, artificial intelligence and self-driving cars.

Many of those new technologies were on display Monday night when Krzanich gave his Las Vegas keynote touting the company's new direction.

Intel shares closed unchanged Monday at $44.74. The stock is down 4.5 percent since word of the chip flaw leaked out a week ago, but shares remain near a multiyear high.

This article has been updated with comments from Brian Krzanich's address at CES.

-- Mike Rogoway; twitter: @rogoway; 503-294-7699