Newsletter Archives

• MS-DEFCON 4: A “sort of” quiet February

  Posted on February 27, 2024 at 02:45 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.09.1 • 2024-02-27

  

  By Susan Bradley

  The February updates have generally been well behaved, with one major exception: gamers.

  Otherwise, things have been mostly quiet. That’s why I feel comfortable lowering the MS-DEFCON level to 4. Patches are unlikely to cause most users any problems.

  Anyone can read the full MS-DEFCON Alert (21.09.1, 2024-02-27).

  AskWoody Plus Alert, MS-DEFCON .NET patches, Alerts, ConnectWise, Exchange Server, KB5034441, KB5034763, KB5034765, MS-DEFCON, MS-DEFCON 4, Patch Lady Posts, ScreenConnect, SQL Server, WinRE

• Microsoft’s groundhog — Copilot

  Posted on February 19, 2024 at 02:43 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  PATCH WATCH

  By Susan Bradley

  Will you see it, or won’t you?

  In the United States and Canada, on a day in early February, a certain rodent is observed emerging from its burrow. Based upon an old Pennsylvania Dutch superstition, if the groundhog sees its shadow, it retreats into the ground for six more weeks, signaling that much more wintry weather.

  I feel a bit like this with Microsoft’s release of Copilot — I never know whether a machine is going to see it or not.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.08.0, 2024-02-19).

  Patch Watch Apple Vision Pro, Copilot, CVE-2024-21351, CVE-2024-21410, CVE-2024-21412, CVE-2024-21413, KB5034441, KB5034765, KB5035606, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, SmartScreen, Windows Copilot

• February 2024 patches for Windows

  Posted on February 13, 2024 at 12:13 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  Ready or not, here comes the February updates for Windows.

  Will we see a fix for our  KB5034441 for Windows 10 22H2 and in KB5034440 for Windows 11 woes? (so far, the answer is no)

  What we will see is “Highlights for Windows 11, versions 22H2 & 23H2 (cont.) •The Copilot in Windows icon will appear on the right side of the system tray on the taskbar. Also, the display of Show desktop at the rightmost corner of the taskbar will be off by default.”

  Ugh. And double Ugh.

  I’ll be adding more links to this post as I digest the info.

  And of course it’s a “dribbled” change

  • Note Windows 11 devices will get this new functionality at different times. Some of these new features roll out gradually using controlled feature rollout (CFR) to consumers.

  Remember if you get Copilot and don’t want it, we’ve got your back here and here.

  Grrrrrrrrrr and double grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

  Zero day blog on the updates released today.

  Exchange getting patched again today. SQL client fixes released in the OS patches so check those line of business database connections.  Not seeing any automated patch for the Windows RE issues. Office and specifically Outlook is getting fixed for a preview pane security issue.  Defender for endpoint getting fixes for zero day that led to malware being installed.

  Windows Security KB5034440, KB5034441, Patch Lady Posts, Windows Recovery Environment, WinRE, Zero Day

• MS-DEFCON 2: Microsoft and compliance

  Posted on February 8, 2024 at 02:45 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.06.1 • 2024-02-08

  

  By Susan Bradley

  An international company must deal with the jurisdictions in which it operates. Microsoft is no different.

  February is always marked on my calendar as the month in which Microsoft is back in full force, holidays behind them. That means we’ll see a rash of updates. I’m raising the MS-DEFCON level to 2 as a result.

  Some of those updates will deal with the requirements of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) in the European Economic Area (EEA). Microsoft published a post in the Windows blog on this subject. The necessary changes to bring Windows into compliance will be dribbling out until the deadline — March 6, 2024 — and will be seen in updates to Windows 10 22H2 and Windows 11 23H2.

  Anyone can read the full MS-DEFCON Alert (21.06.1, 2024-02-08).

  AskWoody Plus Alert, MS-DEFCON Alerts, Digital Markets Act, KB5034441, MS-DEFCON, MS-DEFCON 2, Patch Lady Posts, Print Nightmare

• 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

• MS-DEFCON 3: A bumpy start to 2024

  Posted on January 30, 2024 at 02:45 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.05.1 • 2024-01-30

  

  By Susan Bradley

  The partition-sizing problem that emerged earlier this month is not yet fixed.

  Fortunately, our deep examination of this bug has revealed nothing of a dangerous nature. Therefore, I am lowering the MS-DEFCON level to 3. It’s now time to carefully install the January updates.

  We continue to monitor the problem, described in KB5034441 for Windows 10 22H2 and in KB5034440 for Windows 11. Some, but not all, Windows 10 PCs are affected. I have urged you to check your partitions for issues with installing this update. We have written extensively about the problems, and the forums have been very active (see the From the Forums article in yesterday’s newsletter).

  Anyone can read the full MS-DEFCON Alert (21.05.1, 2024-01-30).

  AskWoody Plus Alert, MS-DEFCON Alerts, InControl, KB5034234, KB5034440, KB5034441, MS-DEFCON, MS-DEFCON 3, Patch Lady Posts, Recovery Partition, WinRE, WUShowHide

• KB5034441 and KB5034440

  Posted on January 23, 2024 at 16:36 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  I’ve been getting some emails regarding our coverage of the Windows Recovery partition problem. One question was whether this applies to Windows 10 only, or both Windows 10 and 11.

  It could be both.

  There are two specific Microsoft knowledge base posts about this  — KB5034441 for Windows 10 and KB5034440 for Windows 11. Both refer to CVE-2024-20666, BitLocker Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability.

  As I have previously noted, the problem showed up rapidly on Windows 10 PCs and, so far, rarely on Windows 11 PCs. That accounts for our slightly one-sided coverage. Also note that KB5034440 only calls out Windows 11 21H2. For Windows 11 22H2 and 23H2, the vulnerability noted in  CVE-2024-20666 is being patched as part of the cumulative windows update of KB5034123. We’ll have more on these nuances in next week’s alert.

  Windows Patches/Security CVE-2024-20666, KB5034440, KB5034441, Windows Update

• KB5034441 has led us astray, in a horrible way

  Posted on January 22, 2024 at 02:45 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.04 • 2024-01-22

  PATCH WATCH

  

  By Susan Bradley

  What’s with this Windows recovery partition thing?

  If you’ve been following along, you know we’ve been discussing the update associated with a BitLocker vulnerability (described in KB5034441) that may require a resizing of the Windows recovery partition to resolve.

  Microsoft’s handling of this problem has been so terrible that I was driven to raise the MS-DEFCON level to 1, just the fifth time I’ve considered it necessary.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.04.0, 2024-01-22).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Patch Watch CVE-2024-20666, Disk Management, KB5034441, KB5034957, MiniTool Partition Wizard, MS-DEFCON 1, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, REAgentC, Recovery Partition, Windows Recovery Environment, WinRE
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