Patching can prevent many of the most-used exploits, risks, and vulnerabilities are seen in major applications, software, and even operating systems. These patches typically contain updates to your current software suite. In recent years, Microsoft has transitioned its focus from new features and updates to focusing on the vulnerability of business and employees utilizing the Windows Operating System.
Microsoft releases updates to address and fix 88 security risks and vulnerabilities in its Windows Operating Systems, specifically relating to software and applications. The most lethal of these include 4 vulnerabilities that exploit code has already been created and distributed on the Dark Web. It’s these bugs that can affect ALL versions of Microsoft Office and trigger malicious links, including what feels like too many, as a customary security update for Adobe’s Flash Player.
If you wish to read the officially Microsoft briefings, you can see those attacked below:
- CVE-2019-1064 | Windows Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability
- CVE-2019-1069 | Task Scheduler Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability
- CVE-2019-1053 | Windows Shell Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability
- CVE-2019-0973 | Windows Installer Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability
Although Microsoft is confident that none of the 88 security vulnerabilities had been exploited prior. These 4 major risks are privilege escalation flaws affecting Windows operating systems. For the other 84 vulnerabilities surfaced by Microsoft, these can be exploited by malware to infect systems without any actions on the user’s part, throughout of date Internet Explorer and Microsoft’s new browser, Edge.
Microsoft Word isn’t safe either, according to many sources, and has another rendition of memory corruption: attackers specifically craft Microsoft Word Documents for a victim to open. It’s been reported that in test environments, the vulnerabilities affect ALL Microsoft Word platforms, including Microsoft Office for Windows, Microsoft Office for Mac, and the popular cloud-based Office365.
Microsoft also punched up an update resolving a singular security hole, critical to many today. Adobe Flash Player, although waning in popularity, received a massive update to prevent malware purveyors from exploiting your data. In Google Chrome and Mozilla, this auto-update is now forcing users to enable Flash Player Settings in their settings. Thankfully, it looks as though by the end of 2020, Adobe Flash Player will be put to bed.
Windows 10 natively likes to install patches all in one go as part of a roll-up. This requires the system to reboot on its own schedule. Microsoft does NOT make this easy for Windows 10 users to change, but it is possible with the help of an expert. For all other Windows Operating Systems, if you’d rather be alerted when they’re available so you can choose when to install them in Windows updates.
If you’re like many businesses today, you’re wondering how you can jump into action, making sense of all this information before the criminals do. If your business is tired of self-managing technology and infrastructure, turn it over to the experts. With options for fully managed and co-managed environments, patching and testing alongside system restarts, and secured monitoring and management make NetCentral Manage a complete solution for your business. Want to know more about NetCentral Manage – Contact Us today to speak with an expert.
