Microsoft

Starting today, January 10th, Windows 7 Enterprise and Professional operating systems will no longer receive security updates. Thus, computers that still run these OS will no longer be protected against critical vulnerabilities. Apart from the operating system itself, browsers (both Edge and third-party browsers), as well as services from other non-Microsoft vendors, such as NVIDIA, have confirmed that they have also stopped offering new security patches in Windows 7. Actions to be taken You should upgrade your Microsoft Windows to newer versions, if your hardware does not support Windows 11, you may upgrade to Windows 10 or maybe consider switching to another Operation System like Linux. ...

REDMOND, WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Bill Gates’s first day at work in the newly created role of technology adviser got off to a rocky start yesterday as the Microsoft founder struggled for hours to install the Windows 8.1 upgrade. The installation hit a snag early on, sources said, when Mr. Gates repeatedly received an error message informing him that his PC ran into a problem that it could not handle and needed to restart. ...

Malicious browser extensions are trying to hijack Facebook profiles, according to a warning from Microsoft’s Malware Protection Center. The extensions, first discovered in Brazil and dubbed JS/Febipos.A by Microsoft, are targeted at Chrome and Mozilla Firefox and appear to be installed by a custom trojan dropper. Microsoft first reported on the trojans in April, but it seems that a recent update to the trojans warrants bringing further attention to them. The trojan extensions themselves monitor users’ browser activity to see if they are logged into Facebook and then retrieve a configuration file from a site, disguised as a .php file, which contains commands for the extension. The extension is able to like pages, share pages, post, join groups, invite friends to groups, chat to friends or comment on posts. The Microsoft researchers have witnessed the extension posting messages (in Portuguese) about teen suicides with a video link that sends users to a malicious site, liking and commenting on a Facebook page apparently belonging to a car company, and sending out a variety of messages via chat, posts or comments. Links to other Facebook profiles are also posted by the extension in messages. ...

Microsoft has confirmed a bug in Internet Explorer 8, CVE-2013-1347, which exposes user machines to remote code execution. In an advisory, Microsoft says the vulnerability “exists in the way that Internet Explorer [accesses] an object in memory that has been deleted or has not been properly allocated.” That, in turn, opens the door to memory corruption and remote code execution in the current user context. According to this blog post by Eric Roman: “A use-after-free condition occurs when a CGenericElement object is freed, but a reference is kept on the document and used again during rendering, an invalid memory that’s controllable is used, and allows arbitrary code execution under the context of the user.” ...

Microsoft is making another attempt to close the privilege elevation hole in the NTFS filesystem’s kernel driver for Windows 7 and Server 2008, including R2. The new patch, 2840149, supersedes security update 2823324, which Microsoft released on its April Patch Tuesday. However, shortly after releasing it, the software giant had to recall the first update because it caused problems with various third-party programs; it crippled computers and triggered error messages. Kaspersky’s anti-virus programs also started acting up once the update was installed, erroneously assuming that they no longer had a valid licence and discontinuing operation. When re-releasing the update, Microsoft didn’t clarify whether this was the reason for the system malfunctioning. ...

Microsoft’s Patch Tuesday on 9 April will be an important spring cleaning day; the company plans to implement nine security bulletins. One of the bulletins deals with vulnerabilities in Windows Defender for Windows 8 and RT; the hole is rated as important and can be exploited to achieve elevated privileges. The headline bulletins will be the two critical security holes, one of which affects all versions of Windows and Windows Server, and another critical vulnerability which can be found in all versions of Internet Explorer. Whether the Internet Explorer fix will be addressing the IE vulnerability revealed at the recent Pwn2Own contest is unclear though. Both critical holes allow for remote code execution. ...

Internet Explorer 10 is available worldwide in 95 languages for download today. Read more in IE Blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ie/archive/2013/02/26/ie10-for-windows-7-globally-available-for-consumers-and-businesses.aspx Download Links: x86: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36808 x64: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36806 Other (Non-English) Languages: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/internet-explorer/downloads/ie-10/worldwide-languages

The Dorkbot/Rodpicom worm, which spreads via messaging applications and leads to additional malware infections, is currently doing rounds on Skype and MSN Messenger, warns Fortinet. The vicious circle starts with potential victims receiving a direct message from a contact, asking “LOL is this your new profile pic? http://goo.gl/[removed]”. Those who follow the link land on a malicious site and are infected with the worm. Apart from being able to send out the aforementioned message to further potential victims, the malware is also capable of opening a backdoor into the infected system, downloading more malicious software, spamming, reaching out to its C&C server, downloading a new version of itself, and other malicious activities. The computer is essentially enslaved into a botnet and is ready to do the botnet master’s bidding. It’s interesting to note that the worm waits until the victims log into the chat app they use and then send out the messages. It is also able of changing the language of the message to be consistent with the language of the installed Windows operating system, making it more believable that the message has been sent by the user. According to FortiGuard Labs researcher Raul Alvarez, the malware is also equipped with a number of evasive and obfuscation techniques aimed at hiding its existence both from AV software and researchers. ...

TheTelegraph: Internet Explorer users might want to consider upgrading or switching to another browser after a massive security hole was discovered in Windows’ native web browser. According to security forum, Rapid7 , Internet Explorer 7, 8 and 9 operating on Windows XP, Vista and Seven contains what is known as a “zero day exploit” which allows attackers to gain access to your personal data while you browse. The forum claimed the exploit would give cyber criminals “the same privileges as the current user”. ...

h-online: On its September Patch Tuesday, Microsoft released two security updates that are rated as important and which close holes in Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2010 (TFS) and Systems Management Server 2003 and 2007. Both updates fix cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities in the web interfaces that allow attackers to execute arbitrary code in the victim’s browser. As the holes enable an attacker to access the web interfaces at the user’s privilege level, Microsoft has classified them as privilege escalation vulnerabilities. The company notes that, to its knowledge, neither of the holes is being actively exploited for attacks. ...