08-Jan-2018

Meltdown and Spectre Vulnerabilities

Last week, a pair of serious hardware vulnerabilities (dubbed Meltdown and Spectre) was disclosed, affecting nearly all modern processors, including those installed in CLASSE computers. A summary of these vulnerabilities and our planned response can be found on the CLASSE-IT blog: http://blogs.cornell.edu/classeit/2018/01/05/meltdown-and-spectre-vulnerability/

Please note the schedule below for the patches we will be installing over the next two weeks.

Windows desktop computers will reboot Tuesday morning, January 9.

Be sure to close files and logout before you go home Monday night. Security patches will be applied to Windows desktop computers early Tuesday morning, 9-Jan-2018. This will cause those desktop computers to reboot. These patches are to compensate for the "Meltdown" and "Spectre" defects in CPU designs which were recently publicized.

Please reboot Linux desktops Tuesday morning, January 16.

Comparable security patches will be applied to Linux desktop computers early Tuesday morning, 16-Jan-2018. Please reboot your Linux workstations and desktops on Tuesday to start using the patched kernel.

Mac desktop computers' updates have already been installed by Apple

Additional reboots probably are not required.

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General network and server maintenance will occur every Tuesday from 12:00 noon to 2:00 PM. The CLASSE-IT group will always announce any expected disruptions in our NewsLetter and via CLASSE-IT-NEWS-L, but with the size and complexity of our network there is always the potential for something to go wrong. We will do our best to contain all network maintenance and planned outages to Tuesdays from 12:00 noon to 2:00 PM.

Unless other arrangements have been made, CLASSE-managed Windows systems may be updated and rebooted on Tuesday morning at 2:00 AM, so please avoid critical or lengthy operations at that time. For more details, please see SystemExpectations.

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Questions or problems? Submit a service request.

Other resources:

• CLASSE IT Home Page
• Previous newsletters

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