You can read all about the Meltdown and Spectre attacks on the internet. Should you be worried? YES! Of course you read on many sites that that you should not worry too much because no attacks have been reported. Lol, would you report such an attack if you are a criminal organization including our intelligence agencies? They also try to fool you that it is only now by the wonderful Google researches that these vulnerabilities were identified. This is just BS. Many people in the computer industry working on these CPU chips must know about this problem. In fact Intel says their chips are working as they should be. And Intel became the laugh of the town by saying that hackers indeed could read our passwords but could not modify our data.
Probably these exploits have been used many years by the NSA, CIA, MOSSAD. My guess is that they found out that either Russia or China discovered this and also started using them and they had no other choice than to made them public. This at the expense of the enormous damage this would do to the companies like Intel and Qualcomm.
Except for a very few they do not tell you that you should turn off Javascript because then probably at least 80% of the websites will not work anymore, including NSA’s Facebook. And that you should block all ads because they can steal your data.
And they also do not tell you that this problem cannot be solved by some software updates. Because it cannot. It can only be solved with new CPUs. Do not buy a new computer, laptop, notebook, phone, tablet until new CPUs have been developed and accepted after thorough testing by independent entities.
What are the major threats?
1. Javascript in your browser and the browser itself. Demonstrations show that parts of the memory of your computer/phone can be read, this includes your passwords, messages, etc.!
2. Programs on your computer (systems) / phones. All these programs can simulate the browser attacks described, with the same results.
What can you do to protect yourself?
1. To prevent problems caused by your browser, move the browser to another ‘in-between’ computer at your location that you access using remote control software.
2. Remove any potential bad program/app from your computer/phone. Far more better is to go fully open source, then at least people can look into this code and find bad code.
3. Block all internet access from your computer to the internet and allow this only via an ‘in-between’ computer
If you are serious about your privacy, this is going to cost you money.
As an alternative you can use a Raspberry Pi as your internet/computer device for your most private actions like internet banking. It is not vulnerable to these attacks.
And do NOT use Wifi. It is very vulnerable for attacks and also bad for your health and the health of your children.
And when installing this ‘in-between’ computer, also put Tor Browser on it. Nobody needs to know where you are surfing to.
See also:
- Edward Snowden says use Qubes, Peter Mooring says remove the browser from your PC
- Why Raspberry Pi isn’t vulnerable to Spectre or Meltdown
- Lenovo: … visit only reputable web sites with minimal obtrusive advertising … and if feasible, turn off JavaScript in your browser.
