“Patch Tuesday” is the name given to the regular monthly bundle of security fixes that Microsoft published for users of its computer software. It’s essential, if you use Microsoft software, that your computers are updated with these security updates – or they could be left exposed to hacker attack.
In particular, as we discussed in a previous post, the latest updates include a critical fix for Internet Explorer that is already being exploited by online criminals.
Aside from a number of fixes for Internet Explorer, other Microsoft software included in the patch bundle are Lync (formerly Microsoft Office communicator), .NET, Publisher, Visio, Windows, Windows Essentials, and Word.
In the most serious cases, some of the vulnerabilities could be exploited by a malicious hacker to run malware on unpatched Windows computers.
In all, a total of 33 vulnerabilities are patched this month by Microsoft. Full details can be found in Microsoft’s May 2013 Security Bulletin Summary.
Oh, but before you get too relaxed, Adobe has also published a bunch of security updates too – meaning even more work for users of ColdFusion, Flash Player, Adobe Reader and Acrobat.
If you’re responsible for maintaining the security of your computer, make sure you are on top of security updates and rolling them out in a timely fashion.
For many people, the simplest choice is to allow security updates to be installed automatically on your home computers – and cross your fingers that your software vendor knows what they are doing.
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