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ComputerWorld Independent 

Critical zero-days make September's Patch Tuesday a 'Patch Now' release

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With 63 updates affecting Windows, Microsoft Office and the Visual Studio and .NET platforms — and reports of three publicly exploited vulnerabilities (CVE-2022-37969, CVE-2022-34713, CVE-2021-40444) — this month’s Patch Tuesday release gets a “Patch Now” priority. Key testing areas include printing, Microsoft Word, and in general application un-installations. (The Microsoft Office, .NET and browser updates can be added to your standard release schedules.)

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ComputerWorld Independent 

Sadly, IT can no longer trust geolocation for much of anything

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Credit to Author: eschuman@thecontentfirm.com| Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2022 03:00:00 -0700

Geolocation was once a glorious way to know who your company is dealing with (and sometimes what they are doing). Then VPNs started to undermine that. And now, things have gotten so bad that the Apple App Store and Google Play both offer apps that unashamedly declare they can spoof locations — and neither mobile OS vendor does anything to stop it.

Why? It seems both Apple and Google created the holes these developers are using.

In a nutshell, Apple and Google — to test their apps across various geographies — needed to be able to trick the system into thinking that their developers are wherever they wanted to say that they are. What’s good for the mobile goose, as they say.

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ComputerWorld Independent 

When Windows updating goes bad — the case of the problematic patch

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Credit to Author: Susan Bradley| Date: Tue, 06 Sep 2022 04:08:00 -0700

Every month, Windows users and administrators receive updates from Microsoft on Patch Tuesday (or Wednesday, depending on where you’re located). And each month, most users all apply the same updates. 

But should we?

Case in point: KB5012170, a patch released on Aug. 9 that either causes no issues — or triggers Bitlocker recover key requests or won’t install at all, demanding that you go find a firmware update. This patch, called the Security update for Secure Boot DBX, applies to nearly all supported Windows releases. Specifically, it affects Windows Server 2012; Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2; Windows 10, version 1507; Windows 10, version 1607 and Windows Server 2016; Windows 10, version 1809 and Windows Server 2019; Windows 10, versions 20H2, 21H1, and 21H2; Windows Server 2022; Windows 11, version 21H2 (original release), and Azure Stack HCI, version 1809, all the way to Azure Stack Data Box, version 1809 (ASDB).

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ComputerWorld Independent 

Apple wasn’t fooling when it said it wanted to make Macs more secure

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Credit to Author: Jonny Evans| Date: Fri, 02 Sep 2022 04:55:00 -0700

When Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering last year said, “We have a level of malware on the Mac that we don’t find acceptable,” he apparently really meant it. And Apple seems to be doing about something about it.

Apple is giant taking steps to secure the Mac

Federighi characterized Apple as being in an enduring battle against malware on the Mac. He also explained that between May 2020 and May 2021 the company identified 130 types of Mac malware that infected 300,000 systems.

Given the Mac’s reputation for security, that may seem counter intuitive, but maintaining a secure platform requires constant watchfulness.

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ComputerWorld Independent 

Apple pushes out emergency updates to address zero-day exploits

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Credit to Author: Lucas Mearian| Date: Thu, 01 Sep 2022 16:46:00 -0700

Apple this week released urgent security updates to address zero-day vulnerabilities on older model iPhones, iPads, and iPods.

The patches, pushed out on Wednesday, address an out-of-bounds write issue that could be exploited by an attacker enabling them to take control of the affected device. The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) today encouraged users and IT admins to review Apple’s advisory HT213428 and apply the necessary updates.

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ComputerWorld Independent 

Patch Tuesday update addresses 123 vulnerabilities, two critical zero-days

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Credit to Author: Greg Lambert| Date: Sat, 13 Aug 2022 04:58:00 -0700

Microsoft’s August Patch Tuesday release addresses 123 security issues in Microsoft Windows, Office, Exchange (it’s back!) and Visual Studio — and unfortunately, we have two zero-days with reports of active exploitation in the wild. Since this is a broad update, it will require planning and testing before deployment.

The first (CVE-2022-34713) occurs in the Windows diagnostic tools and the second (CVE-2022-30134) affects Microsoft Exchange. Basically, the holidays are over and it’s time to pay attention to Microsoft updates again. We have made “Patch Now” recommendations for Windows, Exchange and Adobe for this month.

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ComputerWorld Independent 

Microsoft urges Windows users to run patch for DogWalk zero-day exploit

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Credit to Author: Charlotte Trueman| Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2022 07:37:00 -0700

Microsoft has confirmed that a high-severity, zero-day security vulnerability is actively being exploited by threat actors and is advising all Windows and Windows Server users to apply its latest monthly Patch Tuesday update as soon as possible.

The vulnerability, known as CVE-2022-34713 or DogWalk, allows attackers to exploit a weakness in the Windows Microsoft Support Diagnostic Tool (MSDT). By using social engineering or phishing, attackers can trick users into visiting a fake website or opening a malicious document or file and ultimately gain remote code execution on compromised systems.

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ComputerWorld Independent 

How to protect Windows 10 and 11 PCs from ransomware

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Credit to Author: Preston Gralla| Date: Tue, 02 Aug 2022 03:00:00 -0700

CryptoLocker. WannaCry. DarkSide. Conti. MedusaLocker. The ransomware threat isn’t going away anytime soon; the news brings constant reports of new waves of this pernicious type of malware washing across the world. It’s popular in large part because of the immediate financial payoff for attackers: It works by encrypting the files on your hard disk, then demands that you pay a ransom, frequently in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency, to decrypt them.

But you needn’t be a victim. There’s plenty that Windows 10 and 11 users can do to protect themselves against it. In this article, I’ll show you how to keep yourself safe, including how to use an anti-ransomware tool built into Windows.

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ComputerWorld Independent 

Apple's latest controversy: Expanded App Store advertising

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Credit to Author: Jonny Evans| Date: Mon, 01 Aug 2022 09:03:00 -0700

Depending on how you look at it, Apple may be ramping up ways developers can  reach out durectly to customers via its App Store – or building its own business at others’ expense.

What Apple is doing

Apple has had an advertising business of its own ever since Apple’s then CEO, Steve Jobs, introduced us to iAds in 2010. The scale of that offer was always limited to Apple’s platform, but the service arguably failed, with its technology living on in the form of ad slots in Apple News and the App Store.

Apple’s App Store currently hosts just two ad slots, one in the search tab and the other in Search results. You can tell when you are looking at an ad from the blue shade behind the graphic and a small blue badge that says “ad” – these ads are hard to mistake for content.

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