Microsoft paches

First, taking a mail server offline for maintenance has to be planned. Second, ensuring that mail flow is not affected means many mail admins were woefully behind on patching. Microsoft had to release patches for versions that were long out of support just to ensure that firms were protected. Even the Federal Bureau of Investigation got into the act and proactively patched the web shells of affected servers to ensure all customers were protected.

Microsoft did so to make it easier for IT admins to always have the latest servicing stack update installed. That same month, Microsoft dropped SHA-1 support from its download site, which meant that many older Windows tools suddenly no longer worked.

And finally, on May 18 official release of Windows 10 21H1 arrived. A minor, quick update, 21H1 brought a few features for Windows 10 and was relatively painless to deploy. In July, users saw the first of many print spooler patches that led to side effects for the rest of While less disruptive to consumers, it showed that print spooler code has long allowed attackers to enter computer systems.

August saw yet another print spooler vulnerability patched — and the first of many fixes for the printing issues introduced in July. In October, we got the first patches for the just-released Windows 11, including a remote code execution fix. And in November, Microsoft pushed out updates that also introduced unwanted side effects with single-sign-on and certain Kerberos deployments. What it did bring was a major change to the Windows 10 feature release cadence.

This had long been a request from both users and IT administrators. Too often, Windows users complain that security updates cause disruptions because they make changes to the operating system. Yet, many of these changes are actually introduced in the feature release process. Solutions for:.

Most severe vulnerabilities Nine of the vulnerabilities that were closed this Tuesday have a critical rating on the CVSS 3. Vulnerabilities with PoCs Some of the fixed vulnerabilities were already known to the security community. Furthermore, someone has already published proofs of concept for them: CVE — Windows certificate spoofing vulnerability; CVE — Windows event tracing discretionary access control list denial of service vulnerability; CVE — Windows user profile service elevation of privilege vulnerability.

How to stay safe First, you need to update your operating system and other programs from Microsoft as soon as possible. Tips How to survive remote learning How to stay productive while learning from a distance. Eight steps to freedom: How to detach from social networks Free yourself from social media and start living again. Experts also expressed concern about the presence of another serious vulnerability in Microsoft Exchange Server — CVE which, by the way, is not the only Exchange bug on the list, just the most dangerous.

Some of the fixed vulnerabilities were already known to the security community. Furthermore, someone has already published proofs of concept for them:. We have not yet observed real attacks using these vulnerabilities. However, the proofs of concept are already in public, so exploitation can begin at any time. First, you need to update your operating system and other programs from Microsoft as soon as possible.

In general, it is usually wise not to delay installing patches for critical software. Second, any computer or server connected to the Internet must be equipped with a reliable security solution capable not only of preventing the exploitation of known vulnerabilities, but also of detecting attacks with yet-unknown exploits.