Bonum Certa Men Certa

More Victims Attest to Windows Bricking and Microsoft Halts Patches



Summary: Patch Tuesday is met with a major glitch that leaves many people without access to their computer/s and Microsoft finally acknowledges this by suspending some patches

LAST NIGHT we showed that Windows security is a lost cause. Far too many machines that run Windows are infected; in fact, almost the majority are, even though they run so-called 'anti-viral' software. According to this new report, Windows Trojans hit people almost literally in the pocket:



A researcher at SecureWorks has uncovered a new Trojan swiping credentials of customers of roughly 15 large and medium-sized banks in the United States.

SecureWorks has dubbed the malware the Bugat Trojan. The malware has similar functionality to other banking Trojans such as Clampi and Zeus, and was seen being distributed by a Zeus botnet.


On Tuesday came a very large number of security patches for Windows [1, 2], some of which were bricking Windows XP boxes. Awareness of he problem is now being spread as more people become vocal victims who speak out:

Tuesday's security updates from Microsoft have crippled Windows XP PCs with the notorious Blue Screen of Death (BSOD), users have reported on the company's support forum.

Complaints began early yesterday, and gained momentum throughout the day.


The solutions are far from simple and this is so bad that Microsoft hits the "panic!" button and halts updates:

Microsoft has removed one group of patches it released as part of this week’s Patch Tuesday — MS10-015 (KB977165) – from its Windows Update service until it can investigate reports by some users that it is causing havoc with their PCs.


To make matters worse, those who did manage to install the patches and actually reboot their machine successfully would be saddened to know that their machine is still not secure. "Another Windows security flaw is discovered," says the headline from The Inquirer.

ANOTHER DAY, another Windows security flaw, it seems.

This time Microsoft has posted Security Advisory 977377, which reports a vulnerability in the Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocols.


That was fast. It's back to the usual cycle of endless vulnerability. No wonder one in two Windows PCs is a zombie PC.

"Gates may be gone, but the walls and bars of proprietary software he helped create remain, for now. Dismantling them is up to us."

--Richard Stallman

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