Hardware Vulnerability: Meltdown and Spectre

Find out how to protect yourself from the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerability

04 January 2018

A hardware vulnerability was revealed yesterday, January 3, 2018, where data within a computer's memory may be exposed. This vulnerability extends to smartphones in addition to computers (from personal computers to servers), as devices using certain Intel processors (computer chips) are at risk.
To date, exploiting this vulnerability has not been readily achieved, but it may be a matter of time.
The best remedy against this security exploit is to ensure your computer devices are up-to-date and current with security patches and versions. Fixes and patches for this vulnerability are already available for some platforms, such as the following:

Some of these patches and fixes may slow down the performance of the computing device and the manufacturers and software developers are looking to remedy this unintended side effect.

If you have any questions or issues, please contact IST at ist@ualberta.ca or 780-492-9400.