Conversation:
Notices
-
@lxoliva had some compelling words about this at LP2019:https://media.libreplanet.org/u/libreplanet/m/who-s-afraid-of-spectre-and-meltdown/ I don't know if your comment related at all to Spectre, but---if all the software running on your system is free software, what is there to fear? And I agree. The biggest trouble is that people often run non-free and untrusted code al…
-
@cwebber @lxoliva Certainly we need to trust it as well. But if you're installing software on your system, there are generally other, more effective ways to compromise the user than resorting to side-channels. But ensuring your software is signed and reproducible also helps to mitigate targeted attacks---if you're running the same software that everyone else is running, t…
-
@cwebber Oh, I would certainly advocate for libre hardware. What I was replying to was your original message: > Would you buy/use a computer that ran 3x slower than modern machines if it were more secure (less vulnerable to side-channel attacks)? I interpreted this as buying a modern e.g. Intel processor that has Meltdown/Spectre microcode mitigations, which can cut perfo…
-
@cwebber Ah, well, to actually answer your question: - I generally prefer to mitigate issues, even if that means inconvenience or lack of performance. I put a great deal of time into making life intentionally difficult for myself, for many different things, in the name of security. - In certain circumstances, I may choose not to adopt that practice depending on my threat …
Mike Gerwitz
All Hacker Poesy content and data are available under the