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Which of the following is a variant of the Meltdown and Spectre flaws?
Rogue System Speculative Overwrite Speculative Store Bypass NotPetya Speculative remote code execution
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What was the biggest threat from the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities?
Unprivileged access to read data in memory Encryption of personal data Denial of service Reduced CPU performance
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Which of the processors below wasn’t affected by Meltdown and Spectre?
Cortex-M Phenom X4 Rasberry Pi Intel Core i3
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Which devices were threatened by Meltdown and Spectre?
Windows desktops with Intel chips Older Android devices and iPhones Linux servers and computers All of the above
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What is speculative execution?
Predicting which job branch of a processor will be executed Accessing a nearby cache memory Accessing memory from RAM Executing all jobs of a processor serially
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Which of these vulnerabilities doesn’t belong with the rest?
WannaCry Petya Meltdown GoldenEye
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Which of these cause and effect scenarios is false?
Elevation of privilege --> Unauthorized access Weak passwords --> Brute force attack Spectre flaw --> Reduction in CPU performance Inundation of network with data traffic --> Denial of service
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A group of computers that are networked together and used by hackers to steal information is called:
A botnet A rootkit Ransomware A trojan
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Which of the following is the safest password?
Zaq1@wsX Qwerty123 Wtc3~aaNx Johnson12
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Which of the following statements about data privacy is false?
GDPR compliance only applies to European organizations. The GDPR requires organizations to not collect data from a user unless that user provides consent. Internet service providers can track users’ private browsing. GDPR came into force on May 25, 2018.
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What are internet cookies?
Bookmarked webpages in a browser Browser history that hasn’t been removed Text packets stored on a computer by websites Data stored on a website for tracking purposes
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Which of the following organizations has defined 20 critical security controls to enhance cybersecurity procedures?
The National Cyber Security Centre The Center for Internet Security The Australian Cyber Security Centre US-CERT
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What is touted to be the biggest threat to cybersecurity in 2019?
Ransomware attacks from undisclosed vectors Processor bugs like Meltdown and Spectre Internet of Things vulnerabilities Development of AI
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Which of the following solutions can help IT security pros be proactive against unforeseen vulnerabilities?
Anti-virus software Security incident management software Unified endpoint management software Recovery and backup software
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Which of the following best practices can help prevent ransomware attacks?
Regularly updating all Microsoft and third-party apps Keeping operating systems up to date Closing all unwanted ports All of the above
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Remembering
Meltdown & Spectre

Chaos of 2018

Who doesn't love the start of a fresh year? It brings New Year’s celebrations and resolutions. However, the start of 2018 was a bit different for IT administrators. Instead of focusing on new beginnings, they were forced to face chaos.

Hardware flaws

On January 3, 2018, a couple of processor chip vulnerabilities were discovered, and many were left scratching their heads about what these bugs actually entailed. These vulnerabilities, dubbed Meltdown and Spectre, were alien to the cyber world, as they didn't target any software bugs. Instead, they targeted hardware flaws in processors.

1 Billion⁺Infections
7Variants
2Vulnerabilities

How it translates now?

Security researchers still regard Meltdown and Spectre as two of the most catastrophic vulnerabilities, as they affected nearly every single computer built in the last two decades. Both vulnerabilities have been addressed with a bevy of fixes and updates from chip manufacturers and OS vendors.

It's been a year since these vulnerabilities were discovered. Although Meltdown and Spectre haven’t cost organizations thousands of dollars like some of the more noteworthy ransomware attacks, these vulnerabilities have taught us a lesson: vulnerabilities come in all shapes and sizes, even with the rarest of exploitations.

As we look back at Meltdown and Spectre, one question remains: is your organization prepared to face whatever vulnerabilities might come its way? Following proactive measures like automated patch deployment is one of the best ways to address critical vulnerabilities in the coming years.