<![CDATA[It’s a new month and a new security threat to worry about! This time, researchers have discovered gaps in security stemming from central processing units – better known as the chip or microchip. The news on these microchip security flaws broke this past Wednesday (January 3, 2018) and as of yet no data breaches have been reported. This security scare impacts Intel, ARM, and AMD chips, which roughly means that nearly all computers worldwide and many devices have been exposed to security flaws. This leaves them vulnerable to attacks by hackers. The two microchip security flaws, dubbed Meltdown and Spectre have yet to be exploited so we should not panic. Rather we should get informed and stay informed about what this could mean for your computer and devices, especially now that the flaw has gone public. Here are the basics: What are these flaws?
- Meltdown impacts laptops, desktop computers, and internet servers with Intel chips. This flaw had been partially solved by software updates released in December, and reports indicate that there is no evidence of cybercriminals exploiting the flaw.
- Spectre has a potentially wider reach. It affects some chips in smartphones, tablets, and computers powered by Intel, ARM, and AMD. This is more difficult to guard against.