"Child," said Aslan, "did I not explain to you once before that no one is ever told what would have happened?"
--C.S. Lewis, Voyage of the Dawntreader

Apparently, not always so. The Meltdown and Spectre attacks are interesting and clever exploits of speculative execution, a trick we are using to execute programs more quickly.

An internet-connected device isn't like a house: it has to be a fortress, because it is much harder to prosecute attackers, due to the relatively high anonymity and jurisdiction-crossing freedom of online attacks.
metahacker: Close-up of a computer screen showing a linux terminal. (drwxrwxrwx)

From: [personal profile] metahacker


Yeah. Also, once it's on the net, the sphere of possible attackers is approximately "all of them". Only so many people can attack your front door (or side window, etc.); and only so many of them will choose *your* house...It's like 3 different bads, all connected.

(And this is part of why my actual house has no 'net-controlled security...)

Makes me wonder if we could somehow geofence access to things. NFC sort of works this way, what with the 'near' in near-field, but it's not clear how to do it when you can't use speed-of-light constraints to ensure that people really are near.
dagibbs: (Default)

From: [personal profile] dagibbs


Yes. Yes, they are.

Be glad you don't work for an OS company.
.

Profile

ironphoenix: Raven flying (Default)
ironphoenix

Most Popular Tags

Powered by Dreamwidth Studios

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags