Newsletter Archives

• Saying no to patches

  Posted on January 20, 2025 at 02:45 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 22.03 • 2025-01-20

  PATCH WATCH

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Both Apple and Microsoft are providing updates and options that are unnecessary.

  The good news for you Apple users is that the company is not taking a page out of Microsoft’s forced-change model and instead is letting us easily opt out of AI features. Clearly, it learned from its 2014 blunder — forcing the U2 album Songs of Innocence to iTunes on all iPhones.

  When you receive a pop-up on your Apple device that supports Apple Intelligence, you get a “Not now” option that allows you to easily dismiss the request. For now, Apple’s AI is still somewhat limited and covers only writing, email, and Siri. More AI capabilities are to come later, but it’s good to see that we can easily opt out.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.03.0, 2025-01-20).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Patch Watch 0x80070643, Apple Intelligence, BitLocker, Copilot, CVE-2025-21297, CVE-2025-21309, Device Encryption, Drive Encryption, KB5050411, Newsletters, Outlook (new), Patch Lady Posts

• MS-DEFCON 3: Secure Boot triggers recovery keys

  Posted on July 31, 2024 at 02:45 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.31.1 • 2024-07-31

  

  By Susan Bradley

  It’s time to check whether your boot drive is encrypted.

  As I predicted, Microsoft’s July 2024 security update may trigger a request for recovery keys among those who enabled BitLocker or drive encryption. That’s because the update included a change to Secure Boot.

  This is problematic enough that I’m lowering the MS-DEFCON level to just 3, rather than the more common level 4 I usually suggest at the end of the month. I think you should install updates, but don’t install and then review. Instead, understand this problem ahead of time, prepare as needed, and then update.

  Anyone can read the full MS-DEFCON Alert (21.31.1, 2024-07-31.

  AskWoody Plus Alert, MS-DEFCON Alerts, Binarly, BitLocker, Drive Encryption, KB5040430, KB5040437, KB5040525, KB5040527, MS-DEFCON, MS-DEFCON 3, Patch Lady Posts, PKfail, Secure Boot

• Lessons learned from CrowdStrike

  Posted on July 29, 2024 at 02:45 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.31 • 2024-07-29

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  It’s been over a week since the technology meltdown that impacted airlines, some banks, and even my sister’s Starbucks order through Uber Eats on Friday morning.

  Despite the carnage, only a very small segment of computer systems was impacted. In the Official Microsoft Blog, the post Helping our customers through the CrowdStrike outage pointed out that less than one percent of all Windows machines were affected.

  So why was this so impactful? More important, what lessons have we learned from this event? Is there anything we can do better next time?

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.31.0, 2024-07-29).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  On Security BitLocker, Crowdstrike, CVE-2024-26184, CVE-2024-28899, Microsoft Defender, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, Recovery, Recovery Keys, Windows 11 24H2

• No break from vulnerabilities

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

  PATCH WATCH

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Microsoft is releasing updates for a large number of vulnerabilities this month.

  Meanwhile, Apple is busy working on iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS Sequoia, tvOS 18, HomePod software 18, and watchOS 11. Currently, the updates are released for developers and will soon be coming to the public for beta testing. The Mac OS preview for Sequoia will bring artificial intelligence to Mac models with Apple silicon.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.29.0, 2024-07-15).

  Patch Watch BitLocker, CVE-2024-38072, CVE-2024-38073, CVE-2024-38078, CVE-2024-38080, CVE-2024-38099, CVE-2024-38112, KB5035434, KB5039302, KB5040427, KB5040936, KB5040939, KB5040940, KB5040942, KB5040944, KB5040946, KB5040986, Newsletters, Outlook, Outlook (classic), Outlook (new), Patch Lady Posts

• Microsoft is not fixing its mess

  Posted on May 3, 2024 at 03:00 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.18.1 • 2024-05-03

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Microsoft has now made it official. It does not plan to fix the mess it made with KB5034441.

  As you may recall, I was not pleased with how Microsoft handled this vulnerability. It took a sledgehammer to a problem that should have been handled with a precision tool. Instead of explaining the risks and letting business patchers make their own deployment calls, it shoved out an update that to this day is blocked on my sister’s Windows 10 PC due to the lack of sufficient space in the recovery partition.

  Read the full Plus Alert (21.18.1, 2024-05-03).

  AskWoody Plus Alert Alerts, Anywhere Access, BitLocker, Copilot, Edge, KB5034441, NTLM, Patch Lady Posts, VPN, WinRE

• MS-DEFCON 4: Safe — for now

  Posted on April 23, 2024 at 02:45 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.17.1 • 2024-04-23

  

  By Susan Bradley

  The April updates have been relatively quiet, with some exceptions.

  That’s why I’m lowering the MS-DEFCON level to 4. Most of my concerns lie not with this month’s patches but rather with the timing of future mandates.

  In addition, Microsoft finally acknowledged an “oopsie” with Edge.

  Anyone can read the full MS-DEFCON Alert (21.17.1, 2024-04-23).

  AskWoody Plus Alert, MS-DEFCON Alerts, BitLocker, CVE-2023-24932, Edge, KB5014754, KB5025885, KB5034441, MS-DEFCON, MS-DEFCON 4, Secure Boot, Suggestions

• 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

• Taming BitLocker and other encryption methods

  Posted on February 5, 2024 at 02:42 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Our audience consists of several different segments. As a result, there are many different risk levels.

  My risk tolerance may not be the same as yours, and vice versa. Ultimately, it comes down to your specific comfort level in your specific environment. And, of course, risk levels change over time.

  Once upon a time, we would authenticate to our mail providers in plain text, with usernames and passwords clearly visible, and send all emails in the same fashion. You could “tap” the line with special equipment read every email – in the clear. That’s no longer considered secure, so now nearly all mail providers offer some sort of protection, especially for the credentials.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.06.0, 2024-02-05).

  On Security BitLocker, CVE-2024-20666, Drive Encryption, encryption, FileVault, KB5034441, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, Personally Identifiable Information
• « Older Entries