Switchfast Blog: The Future of IT
Microsoft and Apple Releasing Critical Updates
Monday, March 29, 2010 by Bryan Anderson
It's the beginning of the week - have you had your security
updates installed?
If you are an Apple user, specifically with Mac OS X, then you
may have noticed the update released this morning under OS X
v10.6.3. Apple is recommending that all Snow Leopard users accept
the update, as it provides improvements and security patches for
your Mac.
According to zdnet.com, this "critical" update covers flaws
and holes that could lead to remote code execution, information
disclosure, and denial-of-service attacks. In fact, this recent
security release plugs 88 documented vulnerabilities, a record for
Apple in recent times.
As we've previously covered, several of the security
patches are credited to security researcher Charlie Miller and the
Pwn2Own contest at CanSecWest. It's unclear whether these
vulnerabilities were actually fixed, however, given that Miller
would not hand over the vulnerabilities and instead would only show
them to Apple.
Microsoft also went under the microscope during Pwn2Own and they
have announced an out-of-sequence patch designed to
resolve a zero-day vulnerability in Internet Explorer. According to
Microsoft, the emergency patch is "far from unprecedented" but
"after monitoring the situation, the out-of-band release is needed
to protect customers."
According to zdnet.com, the vulnerability affects IE 6 and
IE 7. A couple weeks ago, a hacker from Israel actually reproduced
the vulnerability and released the exploit code. After this,
Microsoft has seen a slight increase in attacks, which prompted
their out-of-order update.
Make sure to update your systems tomorrow and stay away from any
suspicious websites - you may be a click away from having a hacker
remotely operating your system.
Until next time -
Matthew Hymel
Switchfast Technologies
Chicago IT Support &
Consulting
Rochester
IT Support & Consulting
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