{"id":8101,"date":"2018-01-08T07:00:19","date_gmt":"2018-01-08T15:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/formtek.com\/blog\/?p=8101"},"modified":"2018-01-05T07:45:50","modified_gmt":"2018-01-05T15:45:50","slug":"the-spectre-and-meltdown-chip-security-how-bad-is-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/formtek.com\/blog\/the-spectre-and-meltdown-chip-security-how-bad-is-it\/","title":{"rendered":"The Spectre and Meltdown Chip Security: How Bad is it?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Insecure software is usually the root of security vulnerabilities, but last week two serious hardware vulnerabilities were announced: Spectre and Meltdown.<\/p>\n

What is Spectre?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Spectre<\/a> is a computer chip flaw that can allow hackers to steal information from otherwise error-free applications.\u00a0Many types of computing devices are affected:\u00a0laptops, desktops, tablets, smartphones and even cloud computing systems.<\/p>\n

The Meltdown and Spectre FAQ<\/a> says that Spectre “is not easy to fix, it will haunt us for quite some time.”<\/p>\n

What is MeltDown?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Meltdown is a computer chip flaw that allows direct access to data stored in a computer’s core memory.\u00a0 Any software that runs on the computer could gain access to the information.\u00a0Daniel Gruss<\/a>, researcher at Graz University of Technology, said that Meltdown<\/a> is “probably one of the worst CPU bugs ever found.” The flaw dates back to Intel chips manufactured as early as 1995.<\/p>\n

Analysts suggest that computers. especially those running high-value applications like bitcoin servers, may be targeted by hackers seeking to exploit the Meltdown vulnerability.<\/p>\n

Matt Carr<\/a>, security consultant, told the Telegraph<\/a> that “the most obvious use of Spectre and Meltdown is to dump cryptocurrency private keys and steal wallet passwords without having to send out ransomware, thus gaining instant profit. I think we will see people exploiting this to steal Bitcoins.”<\/p>\n

Dmitri Alperovitch<\/a>, CTO of CrowdStrike, said that<\/a> “the reality is it’s going to take years before new chips are on the market that are able to bring back the functionality in a safe way.”<\/p>\n

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Insecure software is usually the root of security vulnerabilities, but last week two serious hardware vulnerabilities were announced: Spectre and Meltdown. What is Spectre? Spectre is a computer chip flaw that can allow hackers to steal information from otherwise error-free…<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more ›<\/a><\/div>\n

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