Newsletter Archives

• MS-DEFCON 2: Closing out the year

  Posted on December 5, 2024 at 02:45 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.49.1 • 2024-12-05

  

  By Susan Bradley

  As we close the year of patching, I’m surprised to see that our vendors are facing many of the same issues they faced years ago — governments looking over their actions.

  But this time, instead of scrutinizing monopolies for on-premises software, they are looking at how Microsoft is making monopolizing cloud services as well as coercing governments to use more of their services. Recently, a ProPublica investigation questioned how much Microsoft’s free government outreach to enhance the security of its products was designed to lock government customers into these subscription services.

  Then the Department of Justice asked a judge to break up Google and force it to sell off the Chrome browser and restrict their use of artificial intelligence and the Android mobile operating system. I still remember the lengthy monopoly trials against Microsoft. It seems like the more things change, the more things in technology stay the same. We constantly have a push-pull relationship with our vendors.

  Anyone can read the full MS-DEFCON Alert (21.49.1, 2024-12-05).

  AskWoody Plus Alert, MS-DEFCON AI, AirPods Pro 2, Alerts, Antitrust, Apple, Google, MS-DEFCON, MS-DEFCON 2, Patch Lady Posts, Scanners, Windows 11 23H2, Windows 11 24H2

• Your government at work

  Posted on August 26, 2024 at 02:45 CDT by Max Stul Oppenheimer • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.35 • 2024-08-26

  LEGAL BRIEF

  

  By Max Stul Oppenheimer, Esq.

  While most of the world was distracted by the question of whether anyone in their right mind would voluntarily swim in the Seine, there were major legal developments affecting the tech world.

  In a two-part series, I’ll first summarize what the US federal government has been up to. In the follow-on column, I’ll cover some notable actions taken by state governments and private individuals.

  First, the feds.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.35.0, 2024-08-26).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Legal Brief AI, Antitrust, ByteDance, Credit cards, Deepfakes, Federal Trade Commission, Generative AI, Google, Newsletters, Targeted Pricing, Terms of Service, TikTok

• A deluge of vulnerabilities for April

  Posted on April 15, 2024 at 02:42 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  PATCH WATCH

  

  By Susan Bradley

  It’s raining CVEs.

  There are definitely going to be two groups of patchers this month. One will say, “Issues? What issues? My computer updated without issues.”

  The other group will complain about needing a BitLocker recovery key, or that their updates took a long time, or that they were offered a confusing SQL update for a database they didn’t realize they had on their home PC. I’m certainly part of this group — my Windows 10 PC at home took a long time to come back up.

  Let me remind you of some of my standard recommendations, even if you decide to sit on the sidelines and just watch the fun.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.16.0, 2024-04-15).

  Patch Watch Antitrust, BitLocker, BlackLotus, KB5025885, KB5034441, Moment Updates, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, Privacy, Secure Boot, UCPD