Overview Features Coding ApolloOS Performance Forum Downloads Products Order Contact

Welcome to the Apollo Forum

This forum is for people interested in the APOLLO CPU.
Please read the forum usage manual.
Please visit our Apollo-Discord Server for support.



All TopicsNewsPerformanceGamesDemosApolloVampireAROSWorkbenchATARIReleases
Information about the Apollo CPU and FPU.

Is Apollo Core Spectre and Meltdown Safe?!?

Szyk Cech

Posts 191
30 Jul 2018 20:02


Hi
I just read Ferdinand Thommes's "Super Bugs" article in newest polish release Linux Magazine, and - in true - I feel like just awake from night mare with cold sweat!!! I have 3 64bit machines in my house and now I feel totally unsecure! I consider to migrate to safer platform. And AFIK Raspberry Pi is safe! Now I have question to Apollo core developers:

Is Apollo Core Spectre and Meltdown safe?!?

I must to know this before I trust some company as I trust Intel and Amd before...


Matthew Burroughs

Posts 59
30 Jul 2018 20:07


Yep, no need to worry - this was confirmed a while ago.

Big, Big advantage of FPGA - very easy to correct a grade A cock up like Spectre/Meltdown.


Henryk Richter
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 128/ 1
30 Jul 2018 20:13


Curious question considering the fact that AmigaOS doesn't have memory protection.


Martin Soerensen

Posts 232
30 Jul 2018 21:05


Yes, it is quite irrelevant in relation to any AmigaOS-related usage, however if someone for example were to build some embedded Linux-based device with the 68080, then it might be relevant for them to know. However for the average user, Meltdown and Spectre can be ignored since they are very hard to utilize for any malware. If anyone wanted to break in to your system, there are a thousand easier ways of getting in.


Lord Aga
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 119
31 Jul 2018 10:58


Oh yes, but are we safe from Windows 10 force upgrades?
That's the real threat the team is working day and night to prevent.


Alan Haynes

Posts 140
31 Jul 2018 11:36


Lord Aga wrote:

Oh yes, but are we safe from Windows 10 force upgrades?
  That's the real threat the team is working day and night to prevent.

Yes especially when the upgrade does not work and then windows does the system restore to an earlier version or sometimes just gives the famous BSOD. I would rather have a Guru Meditation error.


Andy Hearn

Posts 374
31 Jul 2018 21:04


i wouldn't worry. its not as though there are a lot of 68k hacker/skiddy toolkits out there on the darknet... :D


Vojin Vidanovic
(Needs Verification)
Posts 1916/ 1
03 Aug 2018 07:21


Szyk Cech wrote:

  Is Apollo Core Spectre and Meltdown safe?!?
 
  I must to know this before I trust some company as I trust Intel and Amd before...

Heh, trusting Intel >:-)

No, Spectre is gonna see through Apollo and meltdown is gonna melt it :-)


Andy Hearn

Posts 374
03 Aug 2018 10:28


heh, imagine floppy disk boot sector viruses brought up to date with crypomining code! cpu meltdown there...


Vojin Vidanovic
(Needs Verification)
Posts 1916/ 1
10 Aug 2018 18:19


Lord Aga wrote:

Oh yes, but are we safe from Windows 10 force upgrades?
  That's the real threat the team is working day and night to prevent.

And BSODS! No! We are not!

EXTERNAL LINK 
Unless we Guru!


OneSTone O2o

Posts 159
12 Aug 2018 22:39


Spectre / Meltdown bugs can read 1500 bytes per minute from foreign application memory. That really sounds dangerous...
 
  And most issues already have been patched in still supported Windows and Linux OS.
 
  Believe me, there are much more relevant bugs in modern PC than Spectre / Meltdown.
 
  On Amiga, any application can read the memory of any other Amiga application, as there is no memory protection. On ATARI MiNT multitasking OS you can enable PMMU based memory protection, but that makes even more old pre-MiNT applications to crash, than without.
 
  Amiga/Atari market and user base today is not relevant for contemporary virus, too small group of crazy guys... Modern virus would outperform any 68K system. Most Amiga and Atari are offline. Allmost all virus you can get today on our beloved 68k based homecomputer- dinosaurs will be more than 25 years old and are not aware of any Spectr/Meltdown techniques.

posts 11