Author Topic: Bugs and patches (computers)  (Read 577 times)

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Offline stalag

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Bugs and patches (computers)
« Reply #-1 on: January 07, 2018, 10:15:51 PM »
Hi all,

I saw something very interesting to me, but of critical importance to anyone running a computer. It seems that there is a very serious series of bugs on implementations in hardware and software dealing with security on fundamental levels on all computer systems. It does not matter whether it is android, iOS, macOS, Windows (all versions), linux, or unix running on ARM, Intel, and AMD processors for the Spectre bug, and for the Meltdown bug ARM and Intel processors but not AMD are all impacted. Both bugs have different vectors of attack but end up exposing data in buffers on the processor. Meltdown is being fixed and patched at the OS level and Spectre has several mitigations and some patching to take care of that bug with various fixes both at hardware and software. Good news is that currently there are no known virus/malware exploits, but it is highly recommended that you check the patch level for all software installed on your computer. If you have software that can either be upgraded or patched, please implement that. Some of the OS patches will cause crashes if 3rd party software is used in an unpatched state. Microsoft has released on Jan 4th an update for Meltdown, but you must for the most critical 3rd party software update, make sure you are using the very latest antivirus/malware patched software. Seems that this software is the most problematic due to how it is written, and Microsoft's patch looks to make sure your antivirus/malware is totally up to date before Windows Update will even offer the patch. Some may see a degradation in performance of up to 30% in certain circumstances, but the bug is so serious of a security hole, that patching is critical to helping keep your system secure.

I know this is a lot of geek, but I made sure my computer and all software is updated myself. In certain circumstances if one uses special code in a program selected upgrades may not be immediately workable for some, but try to make sure that you patch to the latest version that does not break needed functionality. For those running Microsoft Windows, versions 7, 8, and 10, there are available patches already for installation. Windows 10 will install automatically but for those not on a regular automatic update, please make sure you update as soon as possible.
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