In recent news Google’s team Zero team has come out with a report that shows that hackers could potentially get through to your personal data through a fundamental fault in chips.
Coming at a not so great time for the industry with the consumer electronics trade show only a few days away, this scare about a security flaw has put the world on pins. With 1.5 billion users having laptops and desktop computers, the security flaw is far reaching and could be potentially very damaging.
What is the security Flaw about?
Researchers have discovered that flaws in CPUs or to be more precise the chips that do most of the processing, seem to have gaps that allow or could allow hackers to gain access to a user’s most private data such as credit card passwords. These chips that are most susceptible to hacking are the Intel, ARM and AMD chips.
The security flaws are mainly of two categories. Meltdown is one of the security flaws that affect desktops, laptops and internet servers running on an Intel chip. The more far reaching of the security flaws is spectre that could affect smartphones, tablets as well as PCs running on any of the three chips that is Intel, ARM and AMD.
Also coming under the purview of the security flaw is any computer or device connected to the cloud, too can be susceptible to an attack.
How serious is this Security Flaw to be taken?
The security flaw is no doubt far reaching, however, there have not been any reported cases of people taking advantage of this security flaw at present.
This is not to say that with the news being divulged of such a security flaw, there won’t be people out there who are going to look out for loopholes to get to user’s personal data.
The most important thing for users to do at present is to ensure that their systems are up to date with the latest update and any third party security packs should also be updated at the earliest.
Safeguarding against the Security Flaw:
The news about the security flaw was already known to tech experts at least 6 months prior to when the issue has come out. This has given them ample time to develop patches and fixes for the security flaw.
All users no matter what the device should install the latest update as soon as possible to protect their data from any potential threats.
Effects of downloading the patches:
Downloading the patches, as researchers have discovered, will likely slow down performance by at least 30%. Intel has rubbished the claims saying that they are exaggerated and any performance slowdown will be mainly work related.
With the CES coming up shortly, researchers are worried about how news of the security flaw is likely to affect sales of products on display.
News of the security flaw has revealed a fundamental flaw in the way that chips are made which will now require a complete rethinking of how chips are to be developed.
Coming at a not so great time for the industry with the consumer electronics trade show only a few days away, this scare about a security flaw has put the world on pins. With 1.5 billion users having laptops and desktop computers, the security flaw is far reaching and could be potentially very damaging.
What is the security Flaw about?
Researchers have discovered that flaws in CPUs or to be more precise the chips that do most of the processing, seem to have gaps that allow or could allow hackers to gain access to a user’s most private data such as credit card passwords. These chips that are most susceptible to hacking are the Intel, ARM and AMD chips.
The security flaws are mainly of two categories. Meltdown is one of the security flaws that affect desktops, laptops and internet servers running on an Intel chip. The more far reaching of the security flaws is spectre that could affect smartphones, tablets as well as PCs running on any of the three chips that is Intel, ARM and AMD.
Also coming under the purview of the security flaw is any computer or device connected to the cloud, too can be susceptible to an attack.
How serious is this Security Flaw to be taken?
The security flaw is no doubt far reaching, however, there have not been any reported cases of people taking advantage of this security flaw at present.
This is not to say that with the news being divulged of such a security flaw, there won’t be people out there who are going to look out for loopholes to get to user’s personal data.
The most important thing for users to do at present is to ensure that their systems are up to date with the latest update and any third party security packs should also be updated at the earliest.
Safeguarding against the Security Flaw:
The news about the security flaw was already known to tech experts at least 6 months prior to when the issue has come out. This has given them ample time to develop patches and fixes for the security flaw.
All users no matter what the device should install the latest update as soon as possible to protect their data from any potential threats.
Effects of downloading the patches:
Downloading the patches, as researchers have discovered, will likely slow down performance by at least 30%. Intel has rubbished the claims saying that they are exaggerated and any performance slowdown will be mainly work related.
With the CES coming up shortly, researchers are worried about how news of the security flaw is likely to affect sales of products on display.
News of the security flaw has revealed a fundamental flaw in the way that chips are made which will now require a complete rethinking of how chips are to be developed.
