Spectre and meltdown?

"Researchers found two major weaknesses in processors that could let attackers read sensitive information that should never leave the CPU, or central processing unit. In both cases, attackers could see data that the processor temporarily makes available outside of the chip.

Here's why that happens: To make computer processes run faster, a chip will essentially guess what information the computer needs to perform its next function. That's called speculative execution. As the chip guesses, that sensitive information is momentarily easier to access."

https://www.cnet.com/news/spectre-meltdown-intel-arm-amd-processor-cpu-chip-flaw-vulnerability-faq/

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So, some asked, how Firewalla deal with Spectre and Meltdown ...  well, in reality, we are not different than most of the smart devices (PC/s...),  all pretty much have the same problems.  Let's divide into the components of Firewalla

1. Firewalla Device

We run Linux and ARM.  So likely the problem is there.  And fortunately, there aren't many ways to get into the box.   It is going to be very difficult to exploit the problem if there is no attack surface.  When the hacker is in the box, it really doesn't matter if they hack or not.

2. Firewalla App

Not much we can do.  Apple will fix this problem.  

3. Firewalla Cloud

Not much we can do.  We use Amazon and Amazon probably already fixed the problem.

Now let's see how Firewalla can help! :)

Firewalla is a monitoring device that guards your digital things.  If any of your devices are hacked due to these problems, Firewalla should be able to catch that hack (if it happens over the network and matches one of our algorithms ).  If you have a Firewalla device now, you probably already seen those annoying 'upload' alarms ...