You have probably heard about these scarily named vulnerabilities which affect the most popular microprocessor chips used in most computers, they were announced publicly on 3rd January 2018.
This issue affects almost all computers of every type, from Apple to Windows via Linux, and is due to a problem with the hardware, not the operating system (but does not generally affect phones, tablets or other devices).
If you use a computer:
As the chips that are affected by these vulnerabilities are so common, it's absolutely crucial that you update your operating system – Windows, Mac/iOS or Linux. It's usually wise to let the computer install updates automatically. It might ask you to allow it to restart in order to apply the updates. We haven’t found that the impact on performance is nearly as serious as the initial warnings suggested.
If you run a website:
GreenNet has already patched our servers to protect the websites and services that we host, but if you are running a website, it's more crucial than ever to make sure that the site software is always kept up-to-date, that means installing the latest updates to Drupal, Wordpress or whatever software you use for the website, or making sure that your hosts have done so.
If you need any help or have any questions, please don't hesitate to email us at support@gn.apc.org, or give us a ring
Here are a couple of useful articles which explain in more detail:
- The Guardian has a simple, non-technical explanation: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jan/04/meltdown-spectre-computer-processor-intel-security-flaws-explainer
- For a more technical explanation: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/01/whats-behind-the-intel-design-flaw-forcing-numerous-patches/
(Thanks to our friends at May First/People Link btw)