[Shop-talk] Hey Y'all -- important windows security patch

[PJ McGarvey]

Probably nothing to worry about if you sit behind a hardware firewall all day
that blocks Netbios ports, but the potential for this to be used in other ways
possibly the web still makes it important to patch anyway.  Having a working
software firewall is also a good idea if you're one of the few that uses
unencrypted wireless networks.

Also a good time to update your virus definitions, Symantec for example has
detection in place for the known viruses related to this, as of Friday.   The
viruses are information stealers.   The remotely accessible nature of the
vulnerability makes it very worm-able.

And there are patches for Vista, tho Vista is not as vulnerable as XP/W2K in
the first place:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=18FDFF67-C723-42BD-A
C5C-CAC7D8713B21&displaylang=en

PJ

> Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:11:01 -0400
> From: wmc_st at xxiii.com
> To: shop-talk at autox.team.net
> Subject: [Shop-talk] Hey Y'all -- important windows security patch
>
> Gretings Shop-Talkers,
>
> I don't usually send stuff like this, cause the majority you receive is
> some bogus alarmist crap from a non-technical person. But this is real:
>
> Just last week Microsoft announced a new security exploit discovered in
> all current windows versions. It's expected the bad guys will start
> trying to spread this one very quickly in the next few, and once a
> machine is infected it will try to propogate to others (it's a "worm").
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/958644
>
> It's considered critical enough that MS released a special patch just
> for it (rather than their one a month batches) AND you don't have to
> have all the "Genuine Windows Authentication" bull$7it running.
>
> If you have the "automatic updates" running on XP, you may already have
> it. But it's quick to load and install, and doesn't hurt to try, even
> if you're already auto-updated.
>
> For windoze XP (most of ya'):
>
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=0D5F9B6E-9265-44B9-A
376-2067B73D6A03&displaylang=en
>
> For windoze 2000:
>
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=E22EB3AE-1295-4FE2-9
775-6F43C5C2AED3&displaylang=en
>
> For Vista.... you were apparently oblivious to all the warnings for the
> last 3 years saying "Vista sucks". You're on your own.
>
> Search for KB958644 for any others (server editions or 64 bit). If
> you're still running '98, it hasn't been supported in years. No
> patches. Don't know if it's vulnerable.
>
> And much as I hate to say it "send this to every one you know"
>
> -Wayne