Two flaws discovered in world's computers

To take advantage of Meltdown, hackers could rent space on a cloud service, just like any other business customer

Computer security experts have discovered two major security flaws in the microprocessors inside nearly all of the world’s computers. The two problems, called Meltdown and Spectre, could allow hackers to steal the entire memory contents of computers, including mobile devices, personal computers, servers running in so-called cloud computer networks.

There is no easy fix for Spectre, which could require redesigning the processors, according to researchers. As for Meltdown, the software patch needed to fix the issue could slow down computers by as much as 30 per cent — an ugly situation for people used to fast downloads from their favourite online