Is my computer vulnerable to Spectre or Meltdown? Does this security issue bother you? It should, if you value your privacy. And here’s how to find out if your PC is indeed at risk.
It has been quite a few months since the Spectre and Meltdown malware were discovered. These malware affect computers on a hardware level, because of vulnerabilities issues in the microcode of Intel and AMD processors. The bad news, is that almost every processor made in the last two decades are affected by these mitigations. Yes, that includes new chips too.
The only way to fix this issue, is to patch the vulnerabilities. This has to be done on every computer, and requires [...]
A few months ago, computer users worldwide were shocked when it was discovered that their systems could be vulnerable to two hardware level security vulnerabilities called Spectre and Meltdown. Intel and AMD rushed to patch the firmware on the affected processors, but it appears that the ghost has returned to haunt Intel in the form of Spectre Variant 4.
Ignoring the spooky pun, the news is alarming. A joint research done by Microsoft and Google says that the new variants are called 3A and 4.
To fix these bugs, Intel has released microcode updates to OEMs in a beta form. These mitigations however come at a cost, not financial of course, but in terms of performance. [...]
