On The Metal Jon Masters
Jan 20, 2020
Jon Masters, a computer security expert, talks about vulnerabilities like Spectre and Meltdown, evolution of microprocessors, vintage computers, on-premises operations, ARM technology, firmware bugs, Windows OS evolution, open-source firmware for Raspberry Pi, the end of Moore's Law, Gen Z buses, and quantum computing skepticism.
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Early Insight on Spectre Meltdown
- John Masters was an early insider on Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities.
- He tracked speculative execution security flaws long before public disclosure.
Risks of Speculative Execution
- Speculative execution improves performance by guessing future instructions.
- It can leak data through cache side channels, creating security vulnerabilities.
Prodigy Begins with BBC Micro
- John was a computer prodigy, enrolling in university at age 13.
- His early computing started on BBC Micro and BBC Master systems in the UK.