Why Your IT Consulting Team in Los Angeles Needs to Monitor Bugs

Microsoft, Intel, and other tech giants opened 2018 with the news that every IT consulting firm in Los Angeles should be aware of. Google discovered security flaws known as "Spectre" and "Meltdown" that affect almost all processors manufactured in the past two decades. Here are ways businesses can protect themselves from such security flaws.

Concern about Security Flaws

Spectre and Meltdown are significant security flaws because of the wide scale of devices they affect. So far, no damage has been reported as a result of these flaws, which aid hackers in spying on server data. The problem affects website owners and users of all major tech brands, including Microsoft, Apple, and Google that use chips made by Intel, AMD, and ARM.

The security flaws affect CPUs of desktops (both PC and Mac), laptops, smartphones, and tablets. While Intel chips are most affected, since the company makes chips for most PCs, other chipmakers affected include AMD, which makes chips for corporate servers and PCs; and ARM, which makes chips for various electronic gadgets. The problem is that the flaws allow hackers to write malicious code that lets them see information stored in the CPU. It also allows hackers to steal passwords.

Download Security Updates

Microsoft immediately released security updates for Windows users. But correcting the problem also requires firmware updates, which is why your IT consulting team in Los Angeles needs to be involved. IT professionals are needed to work out the nuances since the firmware updates and software patches can slow down some systems. Intel processors based on Skylake or newer processors, however, won't be as affected.

Anti-virus software developers must also update their software at the kernel-level in order for the applications to work properly with the new patches. Intel has reported that slowdowns will depend on workloads. Kernels in operating systems are the key to connecting applications to the processor, memory and other hardware in a computing device. Security flaws allow hackers to bypass kernel access barriers.

One way around this problem is that software developers such as Microsoft and Linux are separating the kernel's memory from other processes. Microsoft announced after the discovery of Spectre and Meltdown that it was working with chipmakers to develop and test security solutions for these flaws.

Computers and phones can be configured to automatically install software updates and patches from major operating system vendors such as Microsoft, Apple, and Google. Chances are, there will be multiple updates to fix the Spectre and Meltdown issues. If hackers try to write code to exploit these flaws, it'll be detected and possibly blocked by updated security software.

How Your IT Consultants Must Help

The purpose of an IT consultant is not only to resolve tech issues quickly, but to take proactive steps to protect against future security vulnerabilities. Never forget that your business continuity depends on well-protected infrastructure and architecture. An experienced IT team will look at activity on network systems and components closely. Running periodic security tests is an important part of an outsourced IT firm's work.

Conclusion

Your IT consulting team in Los Angeles needs to understand how to respond quickly to security flaws. Contact us at DCG Technical Solutions, Inc. to ensure that your business technology is well-protected and up-to-date.