Sean Wallbridge
Read between the lines folks…
It has probably been 3 years since we’ve seen a patch ‘out of band’ from the usual couple of updates every ‘Patch Tuesday’, from Microsoft. For Ballmer and Co (Bill is sitting at home now watching this from his recliner, semi-philanthropy-retired) to go out of their way to make this announcement, it obviously carries some significant concern.
This patch is rated CRITICAL for systems running Windows 2000, XP and Windows 2003 and is rated IMPORTANT for Vista Systems and Windows Server 2008.
I (Sean) even received an email directly from a friend of mine at Microsoft, directly with a wink and suggestion that we take this seriously for ourselves and our customers. No doubt there will be plenty of jerks and pretenders trying to take this opportunity to plant their spyware, viruses or other motivations by disguising their product as this Microsoft patch. So, if there is any concern, customers and friends should go directly to Microsoft.com and find the Security Links there, to avoid following any manipulated or disguised links. (the patch and details is available at http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/updates/bulletins/200810_oob.mspx, if anyone wants direct access).
If clients would like this automated, itgroove can assist with the Microsoft (free) product called ‘Windows Software Update Services (WSUS), which is used to centrally manage, control and distribute patches for Microsoft software, from within your company. At a minimum, be sure to visit update.microsoft.com and ensure you and your PC is fully up to date. Systems that are Internet facing, such as Windows Servers offering services like Email and Web Services should be sure to secure these systems immediately, at a minimum.
Let’s be careful out there!
Best regards,
The itgroove team