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Survey: Microsoft patches ignored
From: InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>
Date: Wed, 25 Jun 2008 01:35:14 -0500 (CDT)
http://www.gcn.com/online/vol1_no1/46535-1.html By Jabulani Leffall Special to GCN 06/24/08 The results of an online test conducted by U.K. anti-virus firm Sophos found that more often than not, PC users don't install Microsoft's monthly patches. The results, released on Monday, were gathered from 40 days' worth of data from a sample group of 580 PCs in corporate environments, 80 percent of which failed one or more basic security tests. Moreover, 63 percent were found lacking at least one Microsoft patch on the OS level, the Office and application levels, or the browser and media player component levels. Bill Emerick, Sophos' vice president of product management, said in a prepared statement, "Machines that fail such a test represent 'low-hanging fruit' for cybercriminals and [are] a real danger to their corporate networks." But according to Randy Abrams, director of technical education for IT consultancy ESET, these reports can sometimes be like "two blind men, touching different parts of an elephant. [They] may get the same results, but it doesn't cover the whole body." "I think we have to remember that the sample sets and control groups in tests like these need to be taken into consideration," said Abrams, himself a former Microsoft security pro. "That said, we don't need a survey to tell us that people are lax about patching their systems. I think the evidence of that is that there are far fewer zero-day or new patches than there are those that are responding to a direct set of vulnerabilities." [...] _______________________________________________ Attend Black Hat USA, August 2-7 in Las Vegas, the world's premier technical event for ICT security experts. Featuring 40 hands-on training courses and 80 Briefings presentations with lots of new content and new tools. Network with 4,000 delegates from 50 nations. Visit product displays by 30 top sponsors in a relaxed setting. http://www.blackhat.com
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