10 Apr 2006
Businesses ready themselves for Microsoft security fix
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| Microsoft has rated some of the patches as
critical. |
Experts at SophosLabs™, Sophos's global
network of virus and spam analysis centers, have reported that
businesses are readying themselves to roll out an important series
of security patches scheduled to be released by Microsoft on
Tuesday 11 April.
Sophos reported
last month how hackers were actively exploiting an unpatched
security hole (known as the "CreateTextRange" vulnerability) in
Internet Explorer to attack innocent computers. At the time
Microsoft researchers said they were "working day and night" on a
fix, and some computer users reported they were turning off Active
Scripting or switching to alternative web browsers such as Firefox
to ensure their systems were not vulnerable.
Following the security hole's discovery, Microsoft warned users
to exercise caution when opening email messages, and web links in
email messages, from untrusted sources.
"If you were planning a romantic date with someone from your IT
department on Tuesday night, think again. Companies have been
hanging on, waiting for the official fix from Microsoft for this
serious security problem," said Graham Cluley, senior
technology consultant for Sophos. "Businesses will be eager to roll
out these security patches as soon as possible to ensure their
networks are properly defended. Any vulnerable computer user should
update their systems at the earliest opportunity following the
release of the patches on Tuesday."
Sophos continues to recommend companies protect their desktops
and servers with automatically updated
anti-virus protection.
About Sophos
More than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos as the best protection against complex threats and data loss. Sophos is committed to providing security and data protection solutions that are simple to manage, deploy and use and that deliver the industry's lowest total cost of ownership. Sophos offers award-winning encryption, endpoint security, web, email, and network access control solutions backed by SophosLabs - a global network of threat intelligence centers. With more than two decades of experience, Sophos is regarded as a leader in security and data protection by top analyst firms and has received many industry awards.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.