Meltdown and Spectre

[Lelo1]

Because of the new attacks Meltdown and Spectre, every one is patching.

Many companies have released parshal fixes, and will be releasing more fixes. It's probable worth checking and installing updates for the month. This includes computer operating system, web browser, video/text chat programs.

 

[MarinaThyme]

I don't have the time to read 2 pages of huge paragraphs of computer lingo.

What happened?
Patching what? From where? Why?

 

[Deleted member 37064]

Basically, it's CPU/chipset level instruction vulnerabilities.

It is highly recommended to update all OS, application and Firmware updates on your computers. Nothing that shouldn't be done already. But, these are some pretty significant vulnerabilities.

Between this, and the WiFI KRACK vulnerability back in October there's been some pretty significant vulnerabilities to have come through in the past couple of months.

 

[Lelo1]

Some people figured out new ways to attack computers. The attack works on most computers.

You know how your smartphone, tablet, computer some times prompts you to update? Those updates, and future updates, will help protect against these new attacks. If you've been ignoring those updates, it might be time to install them.

If firefox, chrome, skype, discord, OBS, flash, extra, prompts you to update. You probable want to update those apps as well. Because these new attacks can be triggered from the web browser.

 

[Smores]

I don't have the time to read 2 pages of huge paragraphs of computer lingo.

What happened?
Patching what? From where? Why?

I do not know all of the details, but my quick read was that for many CPU generations the Intel CPUs have had an ability to cache recently used data. Apparently this exploit gives random code running through your browser access to that cache. That cache is likely to contain recently-used userids and passwords.

Once patched, the OS will no longer be able to use that cache, so your computer will get slower.