Meltdown and Spectre Attack

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 Meltdown and Spectre Attack 

Most cybersecurity attacks exploit a vulnerability, such as a coding mistake or bad design. But not all attacks are created equal. In 2018, two Google researchers discovered a new type of attack that affected all computer chip makers and potentially exposed billions to the meltdown and spectre attack.

What you need to know: The meltdown and spectre attack exploits vulnerabilities in computer processors. These vulnerabilities allow attackers to steal almost any data that is being processed on the computer. This is an attack that strikes at the core of computer security, which relies on the isolation of memory to protect a user’s information. A “meltdown” refers to the breakdown of any protective barrier between an operating system and a program, while “spectre” indicates the breakdown between two applications that keep information from each other.

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