I didn't want to talk about it because I think that sometimes, when you can't do much, it's better to ignore problems than to know them and to know that you are powerless, but in the end it is not possible to exempt ourselves and we must necessarily dedicate a few lines to the most recent computer security problem, discovered on January 3, 2018, which involves all the PCs, servers and smartphones of the world . There were even two defects discovered, signed with the names Meltdown and Specter, which allow, in different ways, to leave open a vulnerability that allows malware to access information saved in program memory and, therefore, device data.
Due to a hardware design flaw in many modern processors, attackers could exploit these two vulnerabilities to gain access to part of the memory that should remain private, allowing them to steal things like passwords, emails, browser history and photos.
Both are hardware vulnerabilities: Meltdown affects ARM and Intel processors, while Specter affects all processors.
While the Intel, Microsoft and Apple security patches are already available for Meltdown, for the Specter vulnerability there is currently no solution because it is an architectural problem of the processors which, therefore, should be adjusted and modified to be protected.
In this article we will therefore find out if our Windows PC is vulnerable to Specter, which it will most likely be, and how to protect yourself from Meltwdown and Specter .
First of all it is important to know that Microsoft has already released a patch for the Meltdown bug as a Windows update.
This patch effectively nullifies the threat posed by this bug on Intel-based PCs, while it is not deployed on AMD-based PCs.
To check, open Windows Update from the Start menu (in Windows 10 by going to Settings> Update and security ) and make sure everything has been installed.
In particular, the updates to protect the computer against Meltdown have the abbreviation KB4056892 on Windows 10, KB4056897 for Windows 7 and KB4056898 for Windows 8.1.
So if protection for Meltdown should be resolved like this, Specter is a vulnerability that remains, for which there are currently no patches that make the PC protected, which would require a BIOS update if the manufacturer of the PC or motherboard releases a new version (which is not at all obvious).
To find out if our computer is protected or vulnerable to Specter there is a command to be launched using the Powershell utility.
Powershell is already included in Windows 10, while to install it in Windows 7 and 8.1 you need to download Windows Management Framework 5.0.
Once Powershell is installed, you have to launch it by pressing on it with the right button and using execution as administrator and run this command:
Install-Module SpeculationControl
After loading, press the S key on the keyboard to confirm the installation of the required modules.
In the event of an error, be sure to start Powershell with administrator rights and try running these two commands to set permissions that may be required:
$ SaveExecutionPolicy = Get-ExecutionPolicy
Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope Currentuser
Then type and run the command
Get-SpeculationControlSettings
The result that follows after this command is a list of True or False which is a summary of the vulnerability situation.
If the patches against Meltdown have been installed you will see a line written in green that says: " Windows OS support for branch target injection mitigation: True ".
Each line with True or True written shows that the computer is protected from malicious use of that particular service / component, while each line with False written is a vulnerability.
As can be seen from the figure, there are several open vulnerabilities, including one that says: hardware support for branch target injection mitigation: false .
This message indicates that a patch is missing from the computer hardware manufacturer, which must perform a BIOS update.
This update becomes the only way we have to protect your PC from the Specter bug.
If a BIOS update is available, we have a guide to follow to update the PC BIOS, which unfortunately is not an operation for everyone because it is not automatic.
If not available, however, there is not much to do, if not always keep Windows updated and the web browser protected from external threats.
In the end, after checking if the PC is vulnerable to Specrete, it is better to run the following command in Powershell to reset the security policies:
Set-ExecutionPolicy Restricted -Scope CurrentUser
Speaking of Specter, there is a site that checks that the browser is protected, at least to avoid web attacks
Fortunately, as often happens with hardware vulnerabilities, even if my PC remains at risk, it is not so likely that a virus can put data at risk, both because Windows still has its protection, and because I don't have a computer exposed on the internet as it would be a server.
For those who manage servers, Specter may be a problem (especially for Cloud servers), while it is not significantly for normal PCs, for which an attack based on this vulnerability appears very unlikely.
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