Microsoft has released almost 80 security patches today covering IE, Edge, Exchange, Windows, .NET Framework and Office. There are only 20 rated Critical, 54 rated Important, and 3 are rated Moderate in severity.

Four of the updates released CVE-2019-0636, CVE-2019-0686, CVE-2019-0646 and CVE-2019-0647 are marked as “Publicly Disclosed” meaning there is an increased risk of attack in the near future. Although they are marked Important, we would highly recommend these updates be prioritized this month.

Why should you disable Windows Update?

Many of our customers are concerned that updates released by Microsoft cause significant user disruption, and are simply unable to keep up with the constant fire fighting bad patches give an IT department.

The first reaction is not to patch. This places your environment and users’ identity at risk of exposure, and risk a total network breach. Leaving Windows Update enabled in its default setting downloads and installs all updates released by Microsoft on the same day they are released, leaving your IT department no time to test.

Our clients like the way Syxsense provides the control over when and where the scanning and deployment of updates takes place, providing much relieved stress to any IT department. Ask us how Maintenance Windows can help schedule any patch deployment over high dispersed environments.

Adobe Releases Over 70 Updates

Acrobat and Reader from version 2019.010.20069 and earlier for both Windows and Mac OS are affected. All updates carry a Priority Rating of 2 meaning there is an elevated risk of exploit although no active exploits are known to exist in the wild.

Robert Brown, Director of Services said, “Adobe use their Priority Rating to illustrate how quickly users should update their systems, in this case they recommend within 30 days. Users using Mac OS who usually update their systems manually can truly benefit from the remote patching capability of Syxsense which enables automation over a typical otherwise manual method.”

Of the 71 updates released today, 43 are rating Critical. If exploited, this would allow malicious native-code to execute, potentially without a user being aware.

Is it time to replace IE?

Over the past several months there is an increasing amount of “Actively Exploited” updates being fixed by Microsoft. CVE-2019-0676 is no exception, and as it involved Internet Explorer which is still highly used we would recommend this update be one of your top priorities.

If you wish to replace IE with another browser, Syxsense can deploy the software throughout your environment, and better still your new browser can be kept up date using the Patch Manager solution. Replace your IE browser before an exploit ruins your Valentine’s Day.