Hospitals and clinics have been storing confidential medical files and patient data in highly protected servers. But unless patches are being installed, Spectre and Meltdown attacks could undermine the security of healthcare providers.
Why is Spectre and Meltdown a big problem for healthcare providers?
Spectre and Meltdown are security flaws in computer chips that give hackers access to all data saved in the server, circumventing even encryption and multi-layered security systems.

Despite security being one of Microsoft’s top priorities, it has been recently discovered that there are two vulnerabilities in computer chips, named Meltdown and Spectre, that put private data in jeopardy. As a solution, Microsoft has released an update to fix this vulnerability.

Installing security patches is usually such a humdrum task that even the most inexperienced users handle it. Unfortunately, that has not been the case with the Spectre and Meltdown fixes. This time around, we recommend you skip installing the update and let an IT professional handle it for you.

Like many security flaws, the Spectre and Meltdown bugs can leak critical data from computers and mobile devices for hackers to exploit. What makes them unique is the vast number of PCs, laptops, tablets, and smartphones they affect. But if you use an Apple device, there are fixes that can help you temporarily protect against them.