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Homeland Security says 'Patch Windows Now'

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the well-that's-paraphrased dept.

gregger writes "Wow, so the Department of Homeland Security is really concerned with Microsoft patches now... enough to come out and tell us to patch our machines. This warning, chronicled in eWeek, was issued less than a day after the release of 23 patches from Redmond. So, if you don't apply the patches, then what?"

3 of 381 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Since you are a system administrator... by Darth_Burrito · · Score: 3, Informative

    These ports have to do with things like name resolution, network file sharing, remote execution, and stuff. I don't really know all the details. While linux can talk samba with windows, it is more a windows to windows kind of thing. Read this for some more info. What port 445 does

    One should probably never have 139 and 445 exposed directly to the internet, one should probably only have them exposed beyond an individual workstation if that workstation is part of a realish network (eg, three pcs that never talk to each other plugged into the same linksys router wouldn't count). When in doubt, block it and see what happens.

  2. Re:Two Reactions by corbettw · · Score: 3, Informative

    It seems to me that if the terorists wanted to cause chaos and confusion, they've been doing a good job.

    Except that's not what they want to do. They (and by "they" I mean Islamist terrorists) want everyone in Dar al-Harb to either become Muslim and join the Dar al-Islam, or die. Sowing confusion isn't really a part of either of those.

    --
    God invented whiskey so the Irish would not rule the world.
  3. The real issue by tholomyes · · Score: 4, Informative

    This update is as important as it gets. There are vulnerabilities in every major MS program which allow remote code execution, which means that as soon as the exploit is discovered, it can take advantage of holes all over your system.

    Affected programs and services:
    - MS Server Services (TCP 139 and 445).
    - DNS servers
    - Internet Explorer
    - Outlook Express
    - Microsoft Management Console
    - HTML Help
    - Visual Basic
    - Microsoft Office
    - Windows kernel

    I'm not too surprised that they're trying to push awareness of this patch. It was the lack of patching several weeks beforehand that allowed Code Red to do as much damage as it did.

    --
    When did the future switch from being a promise to a threat? -C. Palahniuk