They are among the first flaws ever found to affect the running of every IT system in the world. Meltdown appears for now to affect mostly chips built by US giant Intel, according to sector specialists Kaspersky Labs and Symantec. These chips are called micro-processors because processor sizes have come down significantly to integrate them into small devices. This is why Microsoft, Amazon or OVH have been scrambling to install updates to restore data protection on their servers. Experts point out, however, that it takes a very high level of technical skill to exploit the Spectre and Meltdown flaws, limiting the risks somewhat.

Source: The Guardian January 06, 2018 08:03 UTC