A recent vulnerability was announced on January 3, 2018, affecting all modern processors. There are two parts to the released vulnerability, and they are as follows:
Meltdown: Allows applications to access operating system memory, providing access to secrets such as passwords. This affects modern Intel chips. There are patches available, however, at this point there seems to be some issues with these patches, causing system instability and slow downs.
Spectre: Breaks the isolation between error-free applications, which allows a malicious application to read memory from another application. This affects all modern chips; Intel, AMD, and ARM.
More information about these vulnerabilities can be found here.
What Does This Vulnerability Mean?
Security experts have pointed out that virtually every system is potentially vulnerable to data exposure posed by these flaws. This includes billions of devices ranging from computers to smartphones to servers. These security flaws could mean that someone is able to view sensitive information that is stored in memory (including passwords and other data).
The good news is that while this data can be obtained, there doesn’t appear to be any documented instances within the tech industry of that actually occurring. In fact, security experts have pointed out that these vulnerabilities have been accessible for well over 20-years. Regardless, the best way to keep your information safe on any device is to install patches as soon as possible upon their release.
What Are We Doing To Protect Customers?
We have been monitoring this vulnerability since it was announced and we will apply patches to our servers as soon as they’re available and stable. If any reboots or service interruptions are required, we will send out a mass email to all customers with further information.