You may have woken up to the news that every computer made for the past 20 years has been built with a faulty computer chip.
A chip that is faulty in the way that makes your important information like passwords vulnerable.
Let’s take a better look at what happened and which steps you should now be taking.
These flaws or vulnerabilities have technically existed for about 20 years but was only recently recognized by Google engineers. Normal protocol calls for announcing vulnerabilities after fixes and updates have been made available, this drastically reduces the chances for hackers to realize this vulnerability and take advantage of it.
Unfortunately, the publication named The Register announced this flaw yesterday so hackers now have the chance to be aware of this and do some damage.
There are actually two bugs, one is Spectre and the other is insidiously named Meltdown.
Meltdown is the bug that can be fixed with a patch and update, but Spectre requires new computer chips altogether. Check out the links down below or just go to spectreattack.com to learn more about these bugs and what you can do to protect yourself.
This flaw means that your passwords are potentially compromised, particularly if you are using them while connected to the internet.
So here’s my advice, and I hope you take this seriously.
If there are updates available for your phone or computer, please update your devices immediately to help protect your information. Until that time, please try and stay as disconnected from the internet as much as possible. If you have to use a password disconnect your device from the internet before you type it in, although this is certainly no guarantee, it’s at least another layer of protection.
This has also affected web services like the Cloud, anything from hosting web servers, online exchanges that host the coins online (think Bittrex, Poloniex), Google Drive and Amazon web services have all been affected. I encourage you to seek out notifications from these services to asses how they are dealing with this situation and move your valuable information like cryptos, into a safer location.
If you have a hardware wallet I’d say now is a good time to put it to use and secure your investments now.
Once solid updates have been rolled out and you’ve updated your devices go ahead and change all of your passwords. It would also be a good time to install a password manager app.
So taking a look at this debacle, it sucks, lots of people will find their information and valuable investments have been compromised in one form or another. But on the other hand, this does show how closed source practices can lead to major dilemmas.
this a good security good post @heiditravels
Got your back playa thanks for the update!
Happy to be an AMD investor right now!!
I bet!
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I see you are going from strength to strength.
I am sorry for not taking the time to look at your blog, since I see all your last threads, and possibly those before them as well are must reads.
What brought me now, is the memory of your decentralized exchanges thread, which I wanted to check again.
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Thanks for the security information. Great job!
Not only Intel but also AMD chips are effect with this, it reaches PC's Macs and Linux systems
Wow - That sucks.
Thanks for writing about this, Heidi. Holy shit! Resteemed and shared on my other social channels to spread the word.
Thanks for helping spread the info. Seriously unsettling news!
It really is. Just linked to your piece at the top of my site w/bold red text, too. Hopefully that'll help get the message across as well: http://coindispatch.net/
It's really a great update thanks for sharing this update and really glad to see this
thankU
Its really nice security post and great helpful information thanks for sharing friend.
I you want a password manager you can 100% trust (open source and can be installed on your own server) have a look at passman https://passman.cc/
Thanks for this tip - I'll be looking into that!
You make it sound like an oversight!
I'm sure companies like Microsoft and Google put a lot of work into designing backdoors like that.
And they don't announce them until they have replaced them with far better ones.
The best way to get the new ones up and running is provide "updates" which like vaccinations (another of Bill Gates evil plans) are designed to really get in and mess your shit up...
After Apple, Intel too joins the bandwagon. And while at it, takes it altogether to a different and a higher level. SMH!!!
Thanks for the important information!!!
We are ready
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@originalworks
I love Originalworks tags!
I don't know how to take it..was it a sarcastic reply? the tag didn't even worked.... :)
It's an upvote so of course I like it lol maybe it didn't work bc of the '2' on the end?
There are 2 of them, sometimes the Original one sleeps, so I was calling #2..
The @OriginalWorks bot has determined this post by @heiditravels to be original material and upvoted it!
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Thanks for the heads up Heidi.
Thanks for sharing this! The sad part is the big giants... Intel, AMD etc have not reacted to it. No update on their website nor they have sent any updates to the users.
Of course you're right. This is a real problem for me. Do you think that authenticators and two-factor tests can protect us?
It's best to stay off the internet and don't type out passwords if you don't have to, and update as soon as it's available.
Thanks!
Thanks for the warning. I like the glasses, BTW.
Hacking out these chips and Researching out new ways to make more effective computer chips and reserving information is a big challenge!!!
Thank you for the update! The problem i have is that one of the exploits is not patchable. Does that mean that my CPU might be useless in the near future since it will let my PC be infected by malware way more easily?
Thanks for the heads up! Very frightening prospect to have everything vulnerable through no fault of our own. Unbelievable that it has been happening for 20 years without anyone knowing about it.
Resteemed.
What the f*****k. Been offline all day making sausages. It basically means my old Apple laptop can now take centre stage as an ornament because upgrading the OS will kill it and connecting it to the internet will open it up to the less honest among us. You kind of hope 'The Register' are top of the hacking hit list for being some damn doff!
Thank you for the break down. Even a password manager can be compromised with this. At this rate you can never really feel secure about your data. Even if you memorize everything you can be tracked typing it in. Scary.
Or it is an evil trick to sell new CPU's like Apple's batterie slow down. ;)
Thanks again for this alert, Heidi. I've been patching, patching, patching!
As you know, several groups are working on blockchain phones, os's, tablets, and pc's - perhaps these will be less vulnerable to these kinds of things!
Thanks for the clearly explained info related to the Intel chip bug. I actually came across your page searching for info on Komodo/atomic swaps. You're obviously quite adept at crypto and tech. Do you have any new insights/thoughts on Komodo? My take is a pretty general analysis but lacks a solid insight into how it plays out technically speaking. Are atomic swaps as important as I think they will be and does Komodo have as much of an edge in this area as I've perceived. Your input is greatly appreciated. thx
There is an interesting post on Linux Weekly News quoting Greg Kroah-Hartman (who is responsible for the Linux kernel stable releases) suggesting Meltdown and Spectre are comparatively small worries compared to others :
His full blog post is here which makes for a reassuring read for those keeping their Linux systems up to date.
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@heiditravels ,Thanks, helpful information
Hi guys here is my post for you
https ://steemit.com/crypto/@khalidjr11/guide-how-to-secure-your-gadgets-against-specter-and-meltdown in this post I try to explain how to secure your PC against these attacks...