microsoft – Page 38 – Computer Security Articles

Credit to Author: Woody Leonhard| Date: Tue, 24 Sep 2019 12:13:00 -0700

I’ve seen a lot of confusion about the security hole known as CVE-2019-1367 and what normal Windows customers should do about it. Part of the reason for the confusion is the way the fix was distributed – the patching files were released on Monday, Sept. 23, but only via manual download from the Microsoft Update Catalog.

On a Monday.

In the past few hours, Microsoft released a hodge-podge of patches that seem to tackle the problem. They’re “optional non-security” and “Monthly Rollup preview” patches, so you won’t get them unless you specifically go looking for them.

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ComputerWorld Independent

September 24, 2019 admin

Microsoft delivers emergency security update for antiquated IE

Credit to Author: Gregg Keizer| Date: Tue, 24 Sep 2019 03:00:00 -0700

Microsoft on Monday released an emergency security update to patch a vulnerability in Internet Explorer (IE), the legacy browser predominantly used by commercial customers.

The flaw, which was reported to Microsoft by Clement Lecigne, a security engineer with Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG), has already been exploited by attackers, making it a classic “zero-day,” a vulnerability actively in use before a patch is in place.

In the security bulletin that accompanied the release of the IE patch, Microsoft labeled the bug a remote code vulnerability, meaning that a hacker could, by exploiting the bug, introduce malicious code into the browser. Remote code vulnerabilities, also called remote code execution, or RCE, flaws, are among the most serious. That seriousness, as well as the fact that criminals are already leveraging the vulnerability, was reflected in Microsoft’s decision to go “out of band,” or off the usual patching cycle, to plug the hole.

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ComputerWorld Independent

September 12, 2019 admin

Heads up: Microsoft is back to snooping with this month’s Win7 and 8.1 'security-only' patches

Credit to Author: Woody Leonhard| Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2019 09:32:00 -0700

Two months ago, the July Win7 security-only patch was found to install telemetry software, triggered by newly installed scheduled tasks called ProgramDataUpdater, Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser, and AitAgent. As best I can tell, Microsoft never admitted that its security-only patch dropped a telemetry component.

The August security-only update didn’t include that bit of snooping, so it looked like the July snooping was a one-off aberration.

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ComputerWorld Independent

September 6, 2019 admin

Time to install the August Windows patches — but watch out for the bugs

Credit to Author: Woody Leonhard| Date: Fri, 06 Sep 2019 08:16:00 -0700

August brought loads of drama to the Windows and Office patching scene. Microsoft’s first round of patches killed Visual Basic, Visual Basic for Applications and VBScript in certain situations — on all versions of Windows. Fixes for the bugs dribbled out three, four, six and 17 days after the original infection.

Those Microsoft-introduced bugs were all the more daunting because the August patches are the ones intended to protect us from DejaBlue — the recently announced “wormable” malware infection vector that (thankfully!) has yet to be exploited. The mainstream press picked up the Chicken Little cry to install August patches right away. Then the buggy offal hit the impeller, and the press fell silent.

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ComputerWorld Independent

August 30, 2019 admin

Microsoft Patch Alert: Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing

Credit to Author: Woody Leonhard| Date: Fri, 30 Aug 2019 10:27:00 -0700

What happens when Microsoft releases eight – count ‘em, eight – concurrent beta test versions of Win10 version 1909 without fixing bugs introduced into 1903 on Patch Tuesday?

Pan. De. Moaaan. Ium.

The VB/VBA/VBScript debacle

No doubt, you recall the first wave of pain inflicted by the August 2019 patching regimen. Microsoft somehow managed to mess up Visual Basic (an old custom programming language), Visual Basic for Applications (for Office macros) and VBScript (a largely forgotten language primarily used inside Internet Explorer). Folks running applications in any of those languages would, on occasion, receive “invalid procedure call error” messages when using apps that had been working for decades.

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ComputerWorld Independent

August 28, 2019 admin

Microsoft removes August patch block on Win7/2008R2 systems running Norton, Symantec AV

Credit to Author: Woody Leonhard| Date: Wed, 28 Aug 2019 06:07:00 -0700

If you’re using Symantec Endpoint Protection or any Norton Antivirus product on a Windows 7 or Server 2008 R2 machine, you didn’t get the August patches. Shortly after the August Monthly Rollup and Security-only patches were released, Microsoft put a freeze on systems running Symantec or Norton antivirus products.

The conflict stemmed from a long-anticipated change in the way Microsoft signed the August patches: Starting in August, all patches are signed using the SHA-2 encryption method. Somehow, Symantec didn’t get the message back in November that the shift was underway, and missed the deadline.

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ComputerWorld Independent

August 26, 2019 admin

Microsoft offers free post-2020 Windows 7 support for Win 10 Enterprise subscribers

Credit to Author: Gregg Keizer| Date: Mon, 26 Aug 2019 03:00:00 -0700

Microsoft is giving away one year of post-retirement support for Windows 7 to customers with active Windows 10 subscriptions.

“Enterprise Agreement and Enterprise Agreement Subscription (EA and EAS) customers with active subscription licenses to Windows 10 Enterprise E5, Microsoft 365 E5, or Microsoft 365 E5 Security will get Windows 7 Extended Security Updates for Year 1 as a benefit,” Microsoft said in a FAQ about the end of support for Windows 7 and Office 2010.

Windows 10 Enterprise E5 and Microsoft 365 E5 are the top-tier subscriptions of the OS or packages that include the operating system. They are the highest-priced plans in their specific lines.

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Security Sophos

August 22, 2019 admin

Blocking attacks against Windows “CTF” vulnerabilities

Credit to Author: Mark Loman| Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2019 16:53:35 +0000

Operating systems and run-time environments typically provide some form of isolation between applications. For example, Windows runs each application in a separate process. This isolation stops code running in one application from adversely affecting other, unrelated applications. This means a non-administrative user mode process can’t access or tamper with kernel code and data, and an […]<img src=”http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/sophos/dgdY/~4/N06wKBdEugM” height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=””/>