Spectre, meltdown

[starikarp]

I have Mountain Lion on iMac 11,1 i7 and I am not sure if Intel care so much on this version from 2009 and I do not want to update OS.
Does anyone solved the problem, please?

Thank you,

 

[idunn]

I have Mountain Lion on iMac 11,1 i7 and I am not sure if Intel care so much on this version from 2009 and I do not want to update OS.
Does anyone solved the problem, please?

Thank you,

Briefly, the problem, as you put it, is far from solved.

Apple has released some patches, software updates, which alleviate the security issues of Spectre and Meltdown to an extent. My understanding these patches are applicable to the latest MacOS, High Sierra, as well as two MacOS versions back, so Sierra and El Capitan, if so. OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion would not be supported.

Thus if following the dictum and common advice to always keep your OS up to date, you will need to change to one of these more modern Apple OS's. By some measures the safest course would be the latest, High Sierra, although it is otherwise infested with a host of bugs and other miseries.

Keep in mind that Intel knew about this problem for at least six months prior to it becoming public in late December (and almost certainly a lot longer than that), yet were forced to withdraw their initial firmware patches in January because they were bricking some Window computers.

Then too, look into Intel ME (management engine) and realize that for as serious as it is that something like Spectre is but one of a host of possible security threats. ME basically affects all computers using an Intel chip; it amounts to nothing less than a backdoor into one's computer whether on or off.

So, no, Apple is unlikely to ever offer the required security patch for Mountain Lion. But it is such a fine operating system in comparison to the newer iterations in so many respects that one might not wish to forsake it lightly. Nor perhaps should. Even with all the latest updates per Apple one still has security risks. The question is more how to best alleviate, lesson security risks, not solve them.

A true fix for Spectre and Meldown would require revised chips from Intel. I wouldn't think one could expect such chips in Apple computers before 2020, and possibly not even that.

There may come a time when Apple computers are truly as secure as we always assumed they were. In the meantime those running High Sierra and thinking they are fine are at far more risk than someone on Mountain Lion—and otherwise paying close attention.