Microsoft today released updates to plug at least 26 separate security holes in itsWindows operating systems and related software. At the same time, Microsoft has issued a stopgap fix for a newly-discovered flaw that attackers are actively exploiting.
The security fixes are included in seven security patch bundles, three of which earned Microsoft’s most dire “critical” label, signifying that attackers can exploit them without any help on the part of the user. Redmond patched vulnerabilities in Windows,Internet Explorer, Dynamics AX, Microsoft Lync(Microsoft’s enterprise instant message software), and theMicrosoft .NET Framework.
Microsoft called out two patches as particularly important: the Internet Explorer bundle (MS12-037), which addresses 13 issues; and a critical flaw in the Windows remote desktop protocol (RDP). Updates are available for all supported versions of Windows, via Windows Update or Automatic Update.
In a separate advisory published today, Microsoft warned that it is aware of active attacks that leverage a vulnerability in Microsoft XML Core Services 3.0., 4.0, 5.0. and 6.0. This is a browse-and-get-owned flaw that can be triggered when an Internet Explorer user on any supported version of Windows visits a specially crafted Web page. Microsoft does not have an official patch available yet for this flaw, but it has issued a FixIt tool workaround that effectively disables the vulnerable component. The vulnerability was discovered by Google, which said it saw the flaw being exploited in the wild in targeted attacks.
A summary of the patches released today — with links to the individual patch advisories — is available here. As always, if you experience any issues applying these patches, please sound off in the comments below.
Researchers from the security vendor AppRiver indicate the malware spam operation began on Friday, May 6, and is still actively delivering the fake update alerts.
The Security Update is to prevent malicious users from getting access to your computer files. The update applies to the following OS versions: Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft XP, Microsoft Windows 7.
Please notice, that present update applies to high-priority updates category. In order to help protect your computer against security threats and performance problems, we strongly recommend you to install this update.
Microsoft is looking into a particularly nasty family of malware, which has been labeled ‘Stuxnet’ by security researchers, and has been seen in the wild in India, Iran, the US and Indonesia, Microsoft said in a blog post on Friday. One of the attack vectors Stuxnet uses is via USB stick. The malware requires no user interaction to infect the system. The operating system merely rendering an icon launches the malware.
“What is unique about Stuxnet is that it utilizes a new method of propagation,” wrote Microsoft researcher Tareq Saade in the blog post. “Specifically, it takes advantage of specially-crafted shortcut files (also known as .lnk files) placed on USB drives to automatically execute malware as soon as the .lnk file is read by the operating system.”
The malware, described by security company F-Secure as an “advanced, persistent threat”, has infected Siemens WinCC Scada machines. In addition, Russian security company Kaspersky said in a blog post on Saturday that this was the first time its researchers had seen a piece of malware that relies on shortcut files to launch and hide itself. http://www.zdnet.com/news/windows-systems-at-risk-from-stuxnet-attack/446162?tag=nl.e550
Before coming to a definitive conclusion it might be relevant to know market growth,untapped market potential and tapped market potential. With out these matrices , one can not conclude Google has grabbed the share(I think ‘stealing’ may not be the correct term to use.)
Further in a market. a product does not achieve the market share, that too an astounding increase in terms of %, by Advertisement alone;especially in Internet related soft ware for product usability, ease and performance have a big role to play.
Another point worth considering is to why Firefox is losing the market share.May be too much “add ons‘!
Story:
Net Applications’ data for January is out, and there are some interesting trends displayed.
First, the data shows that Google’s Chrome browser has managed to snatch usage share from Internet Explorer and Firefox.
Here’s the data:
* Chrome: 5.20% (up from 4.64% in Dec ‘09)
* IE: 62.18% (down from 62.69% in Dec ‘09)
* Firefox: 24.41% (down from 24.61% in Dec ‘09)
Note: While we may debate as to whether Net Applications is a reliable metric or not, Mozilla both accept and use its data in its PR propaganda.
Note that this is the second month in a row that Net Applications has shown a decline in Firefox usage.
I noticed over the holiday period that Google was aggressively pushing Chrome through ads, even going as far as to offer customized downloads that could be sent as gifts via email.
The top browser spot has also changed hands, now belonging to IE8, with 22.31%, beating IE6 (20.07%). Still far too many people browsing the web with IE6 … UPGRADE PEOPLE!!!!!
In other news, Windows 7 global usage share hit 10% on January 31st. Overall, Windows 7 ended January with a 7.51% usage share (leaping ahead from 5.71% for Dec ‘09). Also interesting is the data that shows that Redmond WA, home of Microsoft, shows the highest Windows 7 usage share within the US, a robust 42%.
Overall, Windows usage is down to 92.02% (from 92.21% in Dec ‘09 – even strong Windows 7 gains can’t halt the slow erosion of Windows’ usage share), Mac is up to 5.13% (from 5.11% in Dec ‘09), which I admit probably isn’t significant, and Linux is unchanged at 1.02%. iPhone OS platform is also up marginally to 0.47% (up from 0.44% in Dec ‘09).
Net Applications measures operating system usage by tracking computers that visit the 40,000 sites monitored for clients, which represents a pool of about 160 million unique visitors each month. This data is then weighted based on the estimated size of each country’s Internet population. http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=7102
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