October 7, 2010, 2:43PM
Microsoft Plans Record-Breaking Patch Tuesday
5 Comments
This month's batch of security patches from Microsoft will be a record-breaking one: 16 bulletins addressing a whopping 49 security vulnerabilities.
According to the company's advance notice, four of the 16 bulletins will be rated "critical," Microsoft's highest severity rating. Microsoft rates a critical vulnerability as one that could be exploited to propagate an Internet worm without user action.
The 49 vulnerabilities will mark the largest ever batch of patches issued by Microsoft. The previous record was 34 vulnerabilities patched in August this year.
The October patch batch will include fixes for security flaws in the Windows operating system, the Internet Explorer browser, Microsoft Office and the .NET Framework.
It is very likely that Microsoft will include patches for a pair of elevation of privilege vulnerabilities that were exploited during the mysterious Stuxnet worm attack.
The flaws in this month's release affect all version of Windows, including the newest Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008.
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Comments
I read these bulletins and have no clue what I should do to protect my little home use computer. I am hoping that by virtue of Kaspersky alerting me about so many threats that my Kaspersky software will protect me from them.
This patch alert means that if you don't already have your Windows Update set to Automatic within your Control Panel, you need to manually do a Windows Update next Tuesday and update the heck out of your PC.
Sigh. Very simple - ensure your computer is configured for Windows Updates, and that it happens next week. Kaspersky is a fine antivirus application, but you must keep the core OS updated to ensure protection. In fact, for full protection you need to ensure your applications are kept up to date. Shockwave, Flash and Acrobat are good examples of applications that receive frequent updates to fix security vulnerabilities - keep these updated if you want to stay protected!
Go to windowsupdate.microsoft.com and use Express or Custom to do a patch scan. Should be done every week just to make sure you don't miss something.
Once you have it done once, it should check that Automatic Updates are configured. You can check this under the Control Panel, Windows Updates, or Security Center.
What happened to Kaspersky anyways, it used to be the best. In the last couple of years, the detection rates when to crap. I wish Kaspersky would make a come back, and release a student version :P
It's hard to afford KAV ;D