Exchange and IE in line for Patch Tuesday attention

Critical, nasty, flawed.

By Robert McMillan, IDG news service
Published: 06:42 GMT, 11 February 09

Microsoft has released four software security patches, fixing some nasty browser and mail server flaws as well as a bug in SQL Server that was publicly disclosed in December.

The company released four updates, including critical fixes for Exchange and Internet Explorer. Two other updates, for SQL Server and Visio, were rated "important," meaning it would be a little harder for hackers to exploit the bugs they fix.

The Exchange patch is considered the most important, according to security vendor TippingPoint. Without the patch, hackers could shut down or possibly even take control of an Exchange mail server by sending a specially written mail attachment.

"A compromised email server, in addition to snooping corporate secrets, can be used as a launch pad for attacks against other servers in the enterprise," said TippingPoint.

The critical update for Internet Explorer fixes two vulnerabilities in the browser that could be exploited by hackers to run unauthorised software on a victim's computer. For this attack to work, the victim would have to be tricked into visiting a maliciously crafted web page. Although no attacks have yet been reported exploiting these bugs, Microsoft believes that now that the patches are out, it will be easy for attackers to work up a reliable attack.

The SQL Server patch had been expected. It fixes a bug in the database software that Microsoft acknowledged late last year. According to the researcher who disclosed the SQL issue, Microsoft has known about it since April and wrote its initial patch for the bug back in September.

In all, the updates released this month are "much more critical" than January's patches, TippingPoint said. Last month, Microsoft released just one update, for its Windows Server Message Block file and print service.

What are your views on this subject? Use the form below to post a comment on this article up to 500 characters.

Characters remaining: 500

Related Security news

Hacker attacks on US military jump sharply in 2009

China source of most attacks, says report

21 November 2009

Microsoft denies building security 'backdoor' in Windows 7

Privacy organisations shouldn't read too much into NSA involvement it says

Pentagon expands exclusive deal with McAfee

Department of Defense uses McAfee products

Police arrest pair over global banking web scam

Man and woman arrested in Manchester for using notorious Zeus Trojan

Related Security reviews

Lumension application control review

Bit9 Parity Suite

BitDefender Total Security 2008

Email this article to a friend or colleague:

PLEASE NOTE: Your name is used only to let the recipient know who sent the story, and in case of transmission error. Both your name and the recipient's name and address will not be used for any other purpose.

Techworld White Papers

Database security: Preventing enterprise data leaks at the source

IDC discusses the growing internal threats to business information, the impact of government regulations on the protection of data, and how enterprises must adopt database security best practices...

Download Whitepaper

Service-oriented security

SOA has become an integral part of enterprise software by providing a framework to efficiently develop software as services that is easily sharable, reusable, and integrated. No where is the need more apparent than in the Identity Management space. Welcome to the age of Service-Oriented Security (SOS).

Download Whitepaper

Data protection prospective vendor checklist

Organisations need a way to map business needs against all these challenges in procuring a technical solution. To help, SANS has developed the following Prospective Vendor Checklist.

Download Whitepaper

Unlock the power of the mainframe

This whitepaper presents the notion of CICS as an integration hub based on a component-based, service-oriented architecture supporting Web services. Highlights will review the challenges and contrasted support for Web services natively in CICS.

Download Whitepaper

Techworld UK - Technology - Business

COLT White Paper

Are all VoIP services the same?

Questions to ask your service provider to ensure you get the VoIP service you need
With careful choice of partner, your business can have all the advantages of VoIP access - reduced costs, flexibility and simplicity - without the drawbacks.
This white paper is your guide to ensure you get right the VoIP service and details the pitfalls which businesses would do well to avoid.

Download white paper
BMC

Ride the express lane in the journey to speed ITIL adoption

Explore the challenges in making the journey to ITIL and the criteria for selecting consulting services
By following ITIL practices, your IT organisation will become more closely integrated with the business. We recommend making the journey to ITIL in a sequence of six incremental steps, the phases of which are driven through execution of a strategic transformational roadmap.

Download white paper

Webcast: IT Financial Management: Cost Optimisation for Efficiency and Agility.
On Demand Webcast
Join this webcast to learn about the techniques and technologies that can help you prove the value of IT to the business by understanding the true cost of today's IT services and those that will be necessary to deliver future success.

Register Today

Site Map

IDG Network

* *