Spectre and Meltdown: Will we be haunted by vulnerabilities in modern devices for decades to come?

2018 began with the alarming news that nearly every computer chip manufactured in the last 20 years contains basic security flaws. These flaws have been collectively named Spectre and Meltdown, and were discovered by security analysts at Google.

In contrast to malware and viruses, which affect the software, these vulnerabilities are inbuilt into the hardware. The scale of the risk is unprecedented, as the flaws are not unique to one type of chipmaker or device. Instead, billions of devices, from desktop PCs to tablets and smartphones, are vulnerable. Read more