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Major chip flaws affect billions of devices
CNN ^
| January 4, 2018: 9:44 AM ET
| by Selena Larson
Posted on 01/05/2018 6:05:01 AM PST by Red Badger
Two major flaws in computer chips could leave a huge number of computers and smartphones vulnerable to security concerns, researchers revealed Wednesday.
And a U.S. government-backed body warned that the chips themselves need to be replaced to completely fix the problems.
The flaws could allow an attacker to read sensitive data stored in the memory, like passwords, or look at what tabs someone has open on their computer, researchers found. Daniel Gruss, a researcher from Graz University of Technology who helped identify the flaw, said it may be difficult to execute an attack, but billions of devices were impacted.
Related: Apple says all Macs and iOS devices affected by chip flaws
Called Meltdown and Spectre, the flaws exist in processors, a building block of computers that acts as the brain. Modern processors are designed to perform something called "speculative execution." That means they predict what tasks they will be asked to execute and rapidly access multiple areas of memory at the same time.
That data is supposed to be protected and isolated, but researchers discovered that in some cases, the information can be exposed while the processor queues it up.
Researchers say almost every computing system -- desktops, laptops, smartphones, and cloud servers -- is affected by the Spectre bug. Meltdown appears to be specific to Intel (INTC) chips.
"More specifically, all modern processors capable of keeping many instructions in flight are potentially vulnerable. In particular, we have verified Spectre on Intel, AMD, and ARM processors," the researchers said.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; US: California
KEYWORDS: amd; intel; intelchip; intelprocessor; meltdown; spectre
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The government's solution:
Destroy all your stuff and buy new stuff...................
To: Swordmaker; ShadowAce
2
posted on
01/05/2018 6:05:24 AM PST
by
Red Badger
(Road Rage lasts 5 minutes. Road Rash lasts 5 months!.....................)
To: Red Badger
Destroy all your stuff and buy new stuff...................
New stuff still has the flaws.
3
posted on
01/05/2018 6:10:08 AM PST
by
TexasGunLover
("Either you're with us or you're with the terrorists."-- President George W. Bush)
To: Red Badger
PowerPC processors are affected, too. I haven’t heard if we can still use a DEC Alpha for 64 bit processing.
4
posted on
01/05/2018 6:10:52 AM PST
by
Dr. Sivana
(There is no salvation in politics.)
To: Red Badger
It’s a good thing I have an old 286 computer in my closet.
It has 640K of RAM, which is all the memory Bill Gates said I’d ever need...
5
posted on
01/05/2018 6:12:18 AM PST
by
WayneS
(An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last. - Winston Churchill)
To: Dr. Sivana
I haven’t heard if we can still use a DEC Alpha for 64 bit processing. If so, maybe I should invest in OpenVMS stock.
To: Dr. Sivana
PDP-11’s not affected..................
7
posted on
01/05/2018 6:13:38 AM PST
by
Red Badger
(Road Rage lasts 5 minutes. Road Rash lasts 5 months!.....................)
To: Red Badger
Does this include Itanium processor based systems? You can probably get one of those pretty cheap!
8
posted on
01/05/2018 6:15:31 AM PST
by
Dr. Sivana
(There is no salvation in politics.)
To: Red Badger
Some talented people have been speculating that this was an intentional backdoor for the NSA.
To: Red Badger
It is interesting it is effecting Intel and ARM processors.
It must be an interaction between how protected memory interacts with Javascript.
We should know more next week.
10
posted on
01/05/2018 6:17:45 AM PST
by
Zathras
To: Red Badger
It’s not saying that.
Although, the processor chip is basically the biggest deal in the hardware.
The chip could be replaced itself.
But then, the latest recommendation was just updating software. A switch from changing hardware to software.
11
posted on
01/05/2018 6:18:07 AM PST
by
the OlLine Rebel
(Common sense is an uncommon virtue./Federal-run medical care is as good as state-run DMVs.)
To: Governor Dinwiddie
I never liked hardware based speculative execution.
12
posted on
01/05/2018 6:19:29 AM PST
by
Paladin2
To: rdb3; Calvinist_Dark_Lord; JosephW; Only1choice____Freedom; amigatec; Ernest_at_the_Beach; ...
13
posted on
01/05/2018 6:19:37 AM PST
by
ShadowAce
(Linux - The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
To: Red Badger
Buy the new stuff with the government approved back door.
14
posted on
01/05/2018 6:24:07 AM PST
by
Waverunner
(I'd like to welcome our new overlords, say hello to my little friend)
To: the OlLine Rebel
From what I’ve read, the software patches will rob you of computing speed by as much as 30%.
While most of us will not notice that loss, people in the graphics and other industries that need it will...................
15
posted on
01/05/2018 6:25:03 AM PST
by
Red Badger
(Road Rage lasts 5 minutes. Road Rash lasts 5 months!.....................)
To: Governor Dinwiddie
That was the first thing I thought of...........15 years is no ‘mistake’....................
16
posted on
01/05/2018 6:26:06 AM PST
by
Red Badger
(Road Rage lasts 5 minutes. Road Rash lasts 5 months!.....................)
To: TexasGunLover
Then you’re screwed.............
17
posted on
01/05/2018 6:26:41 AM PST
by
Red Badger
(Road Rage lasts 5 minutes. Road Rash lasts 5 months!.....................)
To: Governor Dinwiddie
Some talented people have been speculating that this was an intentional backdoor for the NSA.
Doesn't pass Occam's Razor. They would not have had to bother Apple for access to iPhones if it were a true back door. They would not have had to get both Intel and AMD to have processor within the processor technology.
If you want computers to be efficient, and talk to each other, and even anticipate future instructions, avoiding architectural vulnerabilities is VERY difficult.
18
posted on
01/05/2018 6:27:46 AM PST
by
Dr. Sivana
(There is no salvation in politics.)
To: Dr. Sivana
19
posted on
01/05/2018 6:29:14 AM PST
by
Red Badger
(Road Rage lasts 5 minutes. Road Rash lasts 5 months!.....................)
To: Red Badger
I see a bunch of big class action suits in Intel’s future.
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