Your Mac, PC, and smartphone are almost certainly compromised by two big security flaws

Microchips have a built-in vulnerability
(Image credit: iStock)

On Thursday, Apple said that Mac computers, iPhones, and iPads (but not Apple Watches) are vulnerable to two hard-to-fix security flaws that cybersecurity experts revealed Wednesday. Windows, Google, and other companies that make PCs, smartphones, servers, and tablets had already acknowledged that their own devices have the same issue. The flaws — given the villainous names Spectre and Meltdown — could be used by hackers to exploit the microprocessors, mostly made by Intel, in internet-connected devices to launch a "side-channel analysis attack" to steal files, passwords, photos, and other documents.

Intel, the dominant chipmaker, says the vulnerability has been in every microprocessor it has made since 1995, but apparently nobody realized the risk until a few months ago, when security researchers at Google, Cyberus Technology, Rambus, Data61, and universities in Austria, Australia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland independently hit upon the flaws. No hackers are known to have exploited the vulnerabilities. Both of them, but especially Spectre, are difficult to fix entirely because they're baked into the hardware, but all major tech companies have been rolling out software patches to mitigate the risk.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.