Sunday, May 28, 2017

Memorial Day: Remembering Those Who Gave Their All for Their Country

Vietnam Memorial Wall
April 30, 2005
Photograph by Luigi Masu

Memorial Day is a day set aside to remember those who have died in the service of their country.  It is also a time when I remember a very special Canadian who likely knew more about U.S. politics and history than most U.S. citizens. Memorial Day 2007 was his last blog post, reading in part:
"Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11, and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war). For more history of Memorial Day visit Memorial Day History."

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Tuesday, May 09, 2017

Microsoft Security Updates for May, 2017


After today, Windows 10 devices running version 1507 will no longer receive security and quality updates.  Instructions on how to update to the latest Windows 10 version are available in this Microsoft support article.

May Security Update Details:

The May Microsoft updates address vulnerabilities in  Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office and Microsoft Office Services and Web Apps, .NET Framework and Adobe Flash Player for Windows 8.1 and above.  Addressed in the updates are Remote Code Execution and Elevation of Privilege.  

For more information about the updates released today, see https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-us/security-guidance/summary.  Information about the update for Windows 10 is available at Windows 10 update history.

However, to actually have a better understanding about the updates released today, see Zero Day Initiative — The May 2017 Security Update Review by Dustin Childs.
 

    Additional Update Notes

    • Adobe Flash Player -- For Windows Server 2012, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows RT 8.1 and Windows 10, Adobe Flash Player is now a security bulletin rather than a security advisory and is included with the updates as identified above.
    • MSRT -- Microsoft released an updated version of the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool on Windows Update, Microsoft Update, Windows Server Update Services, and the Download Center. 
    • Windows 10 -- A summary of important product developments included in each update, with links to more details is available at Windows 10 Update History. The page will be regularly refreshed, as new updates are released.

    References


      Remember - "A day without laughter is a day wasted."
      May the wind sing to you and the sun rise in your heart...




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      Adobe Flash Player Critical Update

      Adobe Flashplayer

      Adobe has released Version 25.0.0.171 of Adobe Flash Player for Microsoft Windows, Macintosh, Chrome and Linux.

      These updates address critical vulnerabilities including a use-after-free vulnerability that could lead to code execution and memory corruption vulnerabilities that could lead to code execution.

      Release date:  May 9 11, 2017
      Vulnerability identifier: APSB17-15
      CVE number: CVE-2017-3068, CVE-2017-3069, CVE-2017-3070, CVE-2017-3071, CVE-2017-3072, CVE-2017-3073, CVE-2017-30744
      Platform: Windows, Macintosh, Linux and Chrome OS

      Update:

      *Important Note:  Downloading the update from the Adobe Flash Player Download Center link includes a pre-checked option to install unnecessary extras, such as McAfee Scan Plus or Google Drive.  If you use the download center, uncheck any unnecessary extras that you do not want.  They are not needed for the Flash Player update.

        Verify Installation

        To verify the Adobe Flash Player version number installed on your computer, go to the About Flash Player page, or right-click on content running in Flash Player and select "About Adobe Flash Player" from the menu. 

        Do this for each browser installed on your computer.

        To verify the version of Adobe Flash Player for Android, go to Settings > Applications > Manage Applications > Adobe Flash Player x.x.

        References



        Remember - "A day without laughter is a day wasted."
        May the wind sing to you and the sun rise in your heart...








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        Monday, May 08, 2017

        Security Update for Microsoft Malware Protection Engine



        Microsoft released Security Advisory 4022344 about an update to the Microsoft Malware Protection Engine.  The update addresses a security vulnerability that was reported to Microsoft.

        The vulnerability addressed in the update could allow remote code execution if the Microsoft Malware Protection Engine scans a specially crafted file. According to the Advisory,
        "An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could execute arbitrary code in the security context of the LocalSystem account and take control of the system."

        An updated MSRT will be included with the Security Updates on May 9.  Windows Defender will automatically update or can be manually launched and checked for updates.

        References:




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        False/Positives of WinPatrol wpsetup.exe and Access to Website

        WinPatrol Scotty

        Since the new release of WinPatrol Version 35.5.2017.8 was announced, there have been reports of the wpsetup.exe being detected as a trojan.  I reached out to Bret Lowry who gave me permission to share information about both the false/positives as well as problems reaching WinPatrol.com.

        False/Positives

        Those are false positives; we have reported them to most of the manufacturers.
        Many are due to BitDefender having a false positive.
        Emsisoft
        GData
        eScan
        Ad-Aware

        All use BitDefender under the covers. You can tell by looking at the detection name in VirusTotal.
        Symantec reports ALL new binaries as a potential threat until the manufacturer contacts them, that is how they are handling the flood of new malware. They’ve been doing that for years now but no one calls them out for it out of fear of the giant.

        It is due to our using the InstallMate installer.
        The installer is not infected. {emphasis added}

        What would be super helpful would be a grass roots campaign demanding VirusTotal act responsibly by providing a link on their site for reporting false positives directly to the manufacturer in question.

        Access to WinPatrol.com

        There have also been reports of problems reaching the WinPatrol website.  Bret indicated that problem with the slowness is not due to problems at WinPatrol.com.  Rather the issue is due to the Internet Backbone company Level3.  As can be seen from the following link to the Level3 Outage map, the problem with Level3 connectivity is widespread:  http://downdetector.com/status/level3/map/.  Although I found access slow earlier today, I was able to get the update by launching WinPatrol and selecting "Check for Save Updates" from the PLUS tab.

        You can find the unofficial WinPatrol forum at LandzDown here. 

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        WinPatrol Update Released

        WinPatrol Scotty

        WinPatrol Version 35.5.2017.8 was released with several fixes to better align with Windows 10.

        Fixes:
        • Fixed addition of Startup programs to be compatible with recent changes to Windows 10.
        • Fixed removal of Startup programs to be compatible with recent changes to Windows 10.
        • Disabled and removed checkbox for “Allow PLUS info data collection” because recent changes in allowed URL length resulting in no data being returned for customers.

        Direct Download Link: WinPatrol Version 35.5.2017.8


        You can find the unofficial WinPatrol forum at LandzDown here.


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        Remember - "A day without laughter is a day wasted."
        May the wind sing to you and the sun rise in your heart...

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        Friday, May 05, 2017

        Mozilla Firefox Verson 53.0.2 Released


        FirefoxMozilla sent Firefox Version 53.0.2 to the release channel today.  (No references made to version 53.0.1.)  When checking, I wasn't offered an update to Firefox ESR.

        The next scheduled release is June 13, 2017 (5 week cycle with release for critical fixes as needed).

        Security Fix:

        Fixed

        • Make form validation errors and date picker panel visible to the user (Bug 1341190)

        Changed

        • The non-standard showDialog argument to window.find is now ignored (Bug 1348409)
          Update:

          To get the update now, select "Help" from the Firefox menu, then pick "About Firefox."  Mac users need to select "About Firefox" from the Firefox menu. If you do not use the English language version, Fully Localized Versions are available for download.

            References




            Remember - "A day without laughter is a day wasted."
            May the wind sing to you and the sun rise in your heart...




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