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Recently, there’s been a significant amount of media attention around Meltdown and Spectre. You may have heard that a large portion of the world’s computers (i.e. including a majority of Windows and Apple computers) are vulnerable to some new exploits that render them susceptible to hackers.
Our hope is to explain a bit about what’s going on and what you can do to protect yourself.
What is Meltdown and Spectre?
Meltdown and Spectre exploit critical vulnerabilities in modern processors. These hardware vulnerabilities allow programs to steal data which is currently processed on the computer. Meltdown and Spectre work on personal computers, mobile devices, and in the cloud.
What is Technology Services doing to fix the issues?
Technology Services is working on applying patches against Meltdown for Microsoft Windows, Apple MacOS, and Linux servers and user computers. Technology Services, after validating and testing the patches, will proceed to patch all the centrally managed University servers and user computers. There is also work to harden software against future exploitation of the Spectre vulnerability.
There is the possibility of slow-downs in University systems once the patches have been made against Meltdown.
What can the campus community do to help?
There is no evidence that any breaches have occurred to any University system. However, we advise users to be extra cautious by following these steps:
- Do not click on any links from suspicious emails.
- Do not share account information.
- Do not enter any of your credentials on suspicious or unknown websites.
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