After these issues have been widely publicized Meltdown si Spectre, many users have stayed with the idea that these two names are of some very dangerous viruses for their computers.
What are Meltdown and Specter?
Meltdown and Specter are not viruses. Meltdown and Specter are two types of vulnerabilities processors (CPU) present on all PCs and phones worldwide. Whatever they are Mac or Windows PCs, all computers have at least one processor and therefore may be the target of these security vulnerabilities.
In Meltdown we are dealing with a single vulnerability, while Spectre has two security vulnerabilities at the CPU level. The principle of exploitation by hackers is as simple as possible. Modern processors are able to make predictive decisions almost instantly, trying to guess what is the next sequence to be executed. Thus leading to an increase in response speed. If the anticipated execution no longer takes place, it will be automatically deleted from the processor. The whole process should take place almost instantly and invisible to the application and the operating system. However, the wrong anticipation of several execution sequences can produce small enhancements, especially on older technology processors.
Bugs Meltdown si Spectre allow hackers to read and access this information from the kernel memory of the OS, taking advantage of the delays in revoking the execution sequences.
What are the devices affected by Meltdown and Specter?
Affected by Meldown and Specter are all computers. Whatever we're talking about here Windows PC or Mac. However, if you have a newer model of Mac it might not resimlook so hard at this vulnerability.
In the case of fans Apple things are even worse. Besides all the models of iMac, MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, meaning all who use macOS, those that are running are also affected iOS si tvOS. iPhone too AppleTV. WatchOS they are the only ones that escape these vulnerabilities.
How can we protect ourselves from Meltdown and Specter on devices Apple
It's pretty hard to say that there is one real solution protection against these vulnerabilities. Meltdown and Specter are based on a manufacturing "defect" in the processor architecture. Therefore, the solution to this problem lies largely with Intel. For users of Windows PC, Intel has already launched BIOS updates that closes these vulnerabilities, but it's not sure for how long.
Apple has launched since last December updates of macOS, iOS and tvOS designed to mitigate the risk created by Meltdown and Spectre. In the macOS High Sierra 10.13.2 Supplemental Update, Apple has currently fixed a vulnerability for Specter and introduced a patch security for Safari and WebKit, with the aim of mitigating the vulnerability on macOS.
The same thing happened to iPhone users. In iOS 10.2.2, several security patches against Specter are brought.
So the best protection solution is to stay away from dubious sites, not to install applications from unknown sources or "hack" applications and especially to keep your operating systems up to date macOS, iOS and tvOS.
Allow and do without delay any update that comes for Google Chrome, Firefox, Opera or another internet browser you use.
Apple promises to make regular updates to stop the effects of these vulnerabilities, and in the future we hope that they will no longer be a problem.
How Meltdown and Spectra Affect Us
At the moment it is only a significant slowdown of work speeds on computers and iPhone devices. Applications are more difficult to open, media content no longer runs fluently, delayed response in the execution of certain operations.
