WHAT HAS HAPPENED
Have you heard of the two latest threats to your computer security? They are Meltdown and Spectre, and they are serious computer security flaws. It affects Intel processors all the way back to 1995 and potentially AMD CPUs as well. If your computer has been rebooting intermittently lately, it’s a result of patches gone wrong to try and neutralize the problem.
Daniel Gruss – the Graz University of Technology researcher who discovered the problem stated that Meltdown is “probably one of the worst CPU bugs ever found”
Meltdown is a flaw in security that allows hackers to side-step the hardware barrier separating user apps from your computer’s core memory.
Spectre is a flaw that allows hackers to trick your programs and get access to your secret information.
Meltdown + Spectre = Really Bad News for all computer-users. It won’t be long before hackers start making their attempts now that this information is widely known. Some experts suggest that hackers are already developing hacks and adding them to their hackers tool kits to launch attacks against the unsuspecting and undefended.
Dan Guido, Chief Executive of Cybersecurity for Trail of Bit, stated: “Exploits for these bugs will be added to hackers’ standard toolkits.”
DO YOU HAVE THIS PROBLEM?
Most likely, yes. Every Intel CPU since 1995 has the problem, even though it’s only recently been discovered. This will include all Windows and all Intel Macs. This includes laptops, desktops, tablets, smartphones, and more.
MEASURES TAKEN
Apple, Intel, Microsoft and others have released white papers on the problem and are taking measures to provide solutions. Apple recommends only downloading updates and apps from the App Store or other trusted sources. Microsoft has released an emergency patch but is must be installed manually. Per Microsoft,
Microsoft is aware of a new publicly disclosed class of vulnerabilities that are called “speculative execution side-channel attacks” that affect many modern processors and operating systems, including Intel, AMD, and ARM.
Note This issue also affects other operating systems, such as Android, Chrome, iOS, and MacOS. Therefore, we advise customers to seek guidance from those vendors.
Clearly this is an emergency situation. Here are some tips to help avoid trouble until a proper fix is implemented by the major computer companies:
- Do not download software from unknown sources
- Be careful opening all emails
- Don’t download or execute email attachments
WHAT WE CAN DO TO HELP YOU
Call us and let a Kayonix Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer scan and diagnose your computers for problems and implement resolution to eradicate any virus you have and stop any trying to get in. Let us:
- Scan for Meltdown/Spectre vulnerability
- Configure antivirus software
- Scan for and clean any current virus
- Resolve performance issues
As always, Kayonix is staying on top of this situation.
SOURCES