Microsoft Out of Cycle Critical Update

Microsoft has been quick to release an out of cycle critical update to address a very serious vulnerability which is reported as already being exploited by the bad guys. This has the potential to be one of the biggest vulnerabilities for many years and is terribly dangerous for all Windows users. Microsoft don’t do out of cycle updates lightly and they only occur when the danger is real and urgent.

To quote Microsoft:

A security issue has been identified that could allow an unauthenticated remote attacker to compromise your Microsoft Windows-based system and gain control over it. You can help protect your computer by installing this update from Microsoft. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.

Security researchers at the antivirus companies are pretty worried about this one, with many working hard to understand the complete scope of the vulnerabilities and exploits possible. It is significant that they already have sample viruses from the wild in their labs. We can’t stress enough how dangerous this one is going to be!.

People using Windows Vista and Server 2008 will be better protected due to the security improvements in those products, but it is still possible for these operating systems to be affected by a careless user or if UAC is switched off. All Windows users must apply the update patch NOW.

You may already have the update installed if you are running genuine Windows and have automatic updates switched on. If you have any doubt then run Windows Update or Microsoft Update to ensure this important patch has indeed been installed. You’re computer will likely have asked to restart following the update.

Take care people… the bad guys are out to get you.

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