Two new processor security flaws have been detected. These flaws effect nearly every computer produced within the last 20 years. The flaws are named “Meltdown” and “Spectre”. Meltdown only affects Intel processors.
The vulnerabilities allow the attacker to access privileged memory of the processor and gain access to key strokes, passwords, etc. It is possible that privileged memory access can be accomplished through web browsers.
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Microsoft, Google, Mozilla and others have been busy updating their browsers. Microsoft has also rolled out a patch for Windows 10, but it won’t install on many systems because of some technical compatibility issues with anti-virus engines.
For additional security, Intel is working on a firmware update. Researchers are speculating that this update will cause systems to run about 33% slower to resolve the root cause.
Quanexus is closely watching these issues and we will be implementing updates and patches as they become available. Any performance issues that a patch may create will be reviewed with our clients before being performed.
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