Microsoft Online Services BPOS Update for January 2011

Microsoft has announced a Service Update for January 2011 which includes new features and enhancements to improve the service experience for both administrators and users. Many of these changes have been requested by BPOS users, so it will be a pleasant surprise for those for sure… This is from the bulletin released on January 5th, 2010: All service upgrades in …

Secure IT Alert: Apple QuickTime for Mac & Windows Vulnerable – Time to Update!

Secure IT Alert for Thursday, December 09, 2010 Apple has released a security update that addresses 15 media handling vulnerabilities in Apple QuickTime player on both the Mac and Windows operating systems. These vulnerabilities are similar in nature… If attacker can coax a user to open a malicious media file, such as an image or a video, the holes can …

Stuxnet virus possibly biggest threat to industry ever

An article from the Associated Press published on news.yahoo.com on Wednesday outlines the threat that the Stuxnet virus poses to industry around the world. The malicious computer attack appears to primarily target the Iranian nuclear plants, but according to the article, it can be modified to interfere with industrial control systems around the world, and “represents the most dire cyberthreat …

SECURE IT ALERT: Huge OS X Update Closes 134 Security Holes

Homeland Secure IT Alert Homeland Secure IT Alert for Friday, November 12 2010 Apple Mac OS X users received some lovin’ in the security department this week with, count ’em, 134 security vulnerability fixes… These “holes” can allow an attacker to gain full control of your machine. The most common of which seems to be of the “rootkit” variety, giving …

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SECURE IT ALERT: Microsoft Patch Tuesday Brings Critical Office Updates

Homeland Secure IT Alert for Wednesday, Nov 10, 2010 Welcome to another exciting episode of Microsoft Patch Tuesday! In this batch of updates, Microsoft has focused on critical vulnerabilities in Microsoft office.  I have included WatchGuard’s description of the updates below since it is a LOT more understandable than the Microsoft version. If you require any assistance with these or …

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SECURE IT ALERT: Apple Mac OS X vulnerabilities and Firefox fixes (for Mac/PC/*Nix)

Homeland Secure IT Alert for Friday, October 22, 2010 Apple has issued two advisories which outline Java security updates for OS X 10.5.x and OS X 10.6.x (Tiger and Leopard). These advisories warn of several vulnerabilities in the OS X Java components (a total of 10). There are updates out to address a few of the flaws, however, many still …

Secure IT Alert: XSS Vulnerabilities in Microsoft SharePoint Server Web Security Feature

Homeland Secure IT Alert for Thursday, October 14, 2010 It seems like only yesterday I was telling our friends and clients about security issues that were announced this week. Believe me, this isn’t Deja Vu all over again…  It’s just another day in the life of a system administrator…. If you are running Microsoft SharePoint, especially if it has been made …

SECURE IT ALERT: A plethora of Microsoft Windows, Office and IE updates are available

Homeland Secure IT Alert for Tuesday October 12, 2010   Well folks, we have a boat load of updates this go ’round…. These updates affect Microsoft Office on both MIcrosoft Windows and Microsoft Macintosh operating systems. Then of course there are updates to the Microsoft Windows Operating System itself, and Microsoft Internet Explorer. The Reader’s Digest version(tm) goes like this …

SECURE IT ALERT: Adobe Reader & Acrobat Updates Affect Macintosh, Windows, UNIX

Homeland Secure IT Alert Homeland Secure IT Alert for Wednesday, October 6, 2010 I realize I am sounding like a broken record (remember those?), however, Adobe has addressed vulnerabilities in their Adobe Reader, Adobe Acrobat, and also Adobe Air products which you should be aware of. Skipping to the chase, please, for the love of God, update your Adobe products …

SECURE IT ALERT: Out-of-Band Bulletin Fixes Serious Microsoft .NET Framework Vulnerability

Homeland Secure IT Alert for Thursday, September 30, 2010 Microsoft has addressed an important vulnerability in another “out of band” security update this week…   This one is for the Microsoft .NET Framework and it affects every Microsoft operating system across the board from Windows XP, Vista and 7 desktop, to Windows Server 2003, 2008, 2008 R2, regardless of service …