ComputerWorld – Page 128 – Computer Security Articles

Credit to Author: Jonny Evans| Date: Mon, 08 Jan 2018 07:06:00 -0800

Even while we accept that coding skills are key to some future employment, Apple is under some pressure to improve parental controls to help prevent children from becoming hooked on their phones. Apple already provides some protection parents can use to limit their children’s smartphone use. Here’s what you need to know:

What are Parental Controls?

Apple has similar controls for iPads, iPhones, Macs and the Apple TV. Apple calls these Restrictions, and you can use them to block or limit apps and features that children can access on their device. Among other things, these tools can restrict use of Safari, the camera, Siri, FaceTime, AirDrop, CarPlay and individual apps. You can also prevent others from deleting apps, making in-app purchases, playing multiplayer games. Privacy settings let you control things like location services, contacts, calendars, reminders and share my location, and you can also apply account-related protections.

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January 8, 2018 admin

Buggy Win7 Meltdown patch KB 4056894 throwing blue screens

Credit to Author: Woody Leonhard| Date: Mon, 08 Jan 2018 05:28:00 -0800

Microsoft’s hasty Meltdown/Spectre patches, released late on Jan. 4, have started baring their fangs. Complaints about Win10 Fall Creators Update cumulative update KB 4056892 and Win7 Monthly Rollup KB 4056894 resulting in blue screens — particularly on AMD Athlon, Sempron, Opteron and Turion processors — started appearing shortly after the patches were released.

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ComputerWorld Independent

January 6, 2018 admin

Browser makers build bulwarks to stump Spectre attacks

Credit to Author: Gregg Keizer| Date: Sat, 06 Jan 2018 12:58:00 -0800

Amid the panicked response this week to the news of significant, though not-yet-exploited, vulnerabilities in the vast bulk of the world’s microprocessors, it went almost unnoticed that most browser makers responded by updating their wares in the hope of fending off possible web-based attacks.

The Google-driven revelations – it was members of the search firm’s Project Zero security team who identified the multiple flaws in processors designed by Intel, AMD and ARM – were to go public next week, on Jan. 9, this month’s Patch Tuesday. At that time, a coordinated effort by multiple vendors, from OS developers to silicon makers, was to debut with patches to protect, as best could be done without replacing the CPU itself, systems against flaws grouped under the umbrella terms of Meltdown and Spectre. That plan went out the window when leaks started to circulate earlier this week.

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ComputerWorld Independent

January 5, 2018 admin

Win7 Monthly Rollup KB 4056894 signals early, abbreviated Patch Tuesday

Credit to Author: Woody Leonhard| Date: Fri, 05 Jan 2018 06:48:00 -0800

Last night Microsoft released KB 4056894, the 2018-01 Security Monthly Quality Rollup for Windows 7. Spurred by early disclosure of the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities, Microsoft has done yeoman work getting the software part of the patches pushed out the Automatic Update chute.

That said, Windows patches are only part of a very formidable picture.

Where we stand with Windows patches

As of this morning, all of the supported versions of Windows have Meltdown-related patches, except for Windows 8.1. In particular:

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ComputerWorld Independent

January 5, 2018 admin

How Apple users can protect themselves against Spectre and Meltdown

Credit to Author: Jonny Evans| Date: Fri, 05 Jan 2018 06:26:00 -0800

Apple has confirmed that all Macs, iPhones, iPads and other devices (bar Apple Watch) are vulnerable to the newly-revealed Spectre and Meltdown Intel, ARM and AMD processor vulnerabilities.

What’s the problem?

Taking advantage of a vulnerability that has been around for 20-years, Meltdown and Spectre exploit a CPU performance feature called “speculative execution”. Speculative execution exists to improve computer speed by enabling the processor to work on multiple instructions at once, sometimes in non-sequential order.

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ComputerWorld Independent

January 4, 2018 admin

Windows, Meltdown and Spectre: Keep calm and carry on

Credit to Author: Woody Leonhard| Date: Thu, 04 Jan 2018 08:13:00 -0800

I’m increasingly skeptical of security holes that have their own logos and PR campaigns. Yesterday’s sudden snowballing of disclosures about two groups of vulnerabilities, now known as Meltdown and Spectre, has led to enormous numbers of reports of varying quality, and widespread panic in the streets. In the case of Intel’s stock price, that’s more like blood in the streets.

While it’s true that both vulnerabilities affect nearly every computer made in the past two decades, it’s also true that the threat — especially for plain-vanilla Windows users — isn’t imminent. You should be aware of the situation, but avoid the stampede. The sky isn’t falling.

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ComputerWorld Independent

January 4, 2018 admin

Apple acts as digital transformation hits panic mode

Credit to Author: Jonny Evans| Date: Thu, 04 Jan 2018 08:03:00 -0800

Apple is updating its systems against newly revealed Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities, but it’s not enough to update personal devices – what about older PCs and the millions of servers that may also be vulnerable to the bug?

The bigger picture

The Spectre and Meltdown bugs are causing lots of distress. Meltdown impacts Intel processors, while Spectre appears to threaten chips from AMD and ARM as well. A good explanation of these vulnerabilities is here.

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