Should i be worry about intel cpu security flaws as an average consumer?

[Newblesse Obblige]

I heard many arguments about intel being not safe because hardware vulnerabilities like spectre. do really need to worry about it? because i see it as to scare people so they wont buy a intel cpu but still enlighten me

[keskparane]

How many state secrets are kept secure on your PC?

 

[5x5]

If you use your PC for banking purposes, keep important personal data or have life critical files - yes. If all you do is browse Facebook - not exactly but you should be careful for the malware attacks that can basically infect you with any malware they want from a webpage

[mariushm]

37 minutes ago, 5NibbaHertz said:

I heard many arguments about intel being not safe because hardware vulnerabilities like spectre. do really need to worry about it? because i see it as to scare people so they wont buy a intel cpu but still enlighten me

It's not just about secrets, it's about losing performance.

Intel processors have microcode inside (like a bios inside the cpu) which can be updated through bios updates and less often through software updates (windows updates etc).

Since these vulnerabilities were discovered, several patches and bios updates were made which automatically update the microcode inside the processors.

Some of these fixes slow down some things, so if you bought the cpu after checking out a review, you may be surprised now that in some games or some applications, your Intel processor is 5-10% slower.

Some issues are so difficult to fix, you may even have to disable hyperthreading if you want to use the processor in a business or where data safety is critical (for example even accessing a web page within a company may be dangerous, as some javascript code on a web page forgotten opened in a browser tab) could take advantage of these flaws and monitor and slowly steal bits of data (characters at a time, but a few passwords or database records with credit card details or whatever are enough to cause problems)

 

[Mick Naughty]

If you haven’t been worried the past decade, I wouldn’t be worried now. 

[Newblesse Obblige]

On 3/26/2020 at 7:46 PM, keskparane said:

How many state secrets are kept secure on your PC?

 

maybe my "collections"?

[toasty99]

No. In fact, I've disabled the security updates with inspecte on my PC because as of today not a single hack has been done this way. 

 

I am far more worried about the security of my Android phone considering the track record of Google with security.