Last Thursday, Microsoft announced that it acquired Komoku, a provider of advanced rootkit detection solutions, to add its functionality into the upcoming versions of Forefront and Windows Live OneCare.
For more information, see Forefront Team Blog and Anti-Malware Engineering Team.
Really cool video at the McAfee's Avert Labs blog site about the latest mass hack attack at phpBB web sites. See how it looks like from an end user's perspective: Mass Hack Attack.
Source: McAfee Avert Labs Blog.
Yesterday, March 11th, Microsoft released 4 critical updates. So far I have it installed on five XP Pro SP2 machines without any problems. If you haven't done it yet then point your mouse to Microsoft Update to download and install these patches:
- MS08-014 - Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Excel Could Allow Remote Code Execution (949029)
- MS08-015 - Vulnerability in Microsoft Outlook Could Allow Remote Code Execution (949031)
- MS08-016 - Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office Could Allow Remote Code Execution (949030)
- MS08-017 - Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office Web Components Could Allow Remote Code Execution (933103)
A more technical version of the Security Bulletin can be found at TechNet and an end-user version is available at Microsoft's Security At Home site.
You can obtain the security updates offered this month on Windows Update, from Download Center on Security and Critical Releases ISO CD Image files. For more information, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 913086.
Support:
See also: Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) and Security Vulnerability Research & Defense blog.
Yesterday Microsoft Holland presented the IT HerOlympics, the Dutch launch of Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008. A couple of my colleagues and I went there and had a great time! Got there pretty early so I had some time to walk around at the event hall to get some information and pamphlets from several sponsors and/or partner(s) and of course Microsoft Learning.
After the keynote, presented by Michel N'Guettia, Business Group Lead Server & Tools and Erwin Hartenberg, Product Marketing Manager Windows Server 2008, some of us had to check their email, missed phone calls on their cell phone, PDA's or other gadgets.
After the coffee break there were several technical sessions. And we all went to the sessions that interested us the most. Of course, the first session we attended was the "Windows Server 2008 Technical Overview" presented by Tony Krijnen and Daniel van Soest. A very nice presentation and the topics were also interesting:
So much to tell and not enough time, that goes for Tony and Daniel. It was noon and time for lunch. About 2,000 people went after the sandwiches, drinks, coffee or tea... I hope next time they use a bigger building for the launch of the Microsoft products. After some walking around and having a few sandwiches, and checking out the event hall, it was time for another technical session. And where do you go to as Windows Security MVP? Right! The session of Steve Lamb called: "Security Improvements in Windows Server 2008". Steve Lamb, a technical security advisor at Microsoft, UK, talking about people, processes and technology. And topics like:
- Effective Security
- Overview Windows Server 2008 security
- Architectural changes
- NAP, Network Access Protection
- Read-Only Domain Controllers
- AD Rights Management
- Auditing
- Resources
An hour was just too short because there was so much to say. But fortunately Steve had another Q&A session at the end of the day. First we went to another session of Martijn Bellaard, called: "Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services", but it was just too crowded in the room, and too warm, to take any notes. Martijn wasn't finished yet when a person from the organization urged him to end it to leave the room for the next speaker. The hour was just too short again.
Then there was the last session. It was back in the "stadium 2" and this was a relieve after been in a few warm rooms because here in "stadium 2" it was a little chilly.
This was the Q&A session by Steve Lamb, who was wearing his coat to keep himself warm. But the session was most interesting. Many interesting questions and very clear answers with examples from real life. It was a real pleasure to talk and listen to Steve Lamb and hopefully we'll meet again.
The day came to an end. It was an interesting day and, and because our company had invited us for a dinner afterwards, it was time to get the bag of goodies. Everyone could choose a book from Microsoft Learning and so my choice was "Windows Server® 2008 Security Resource Kit" from Jesper M. Johansson and MVP's with the Microsoft Security Team. That will give me a few hours of interesting reading. Apart from the book there were also a few DVD's in the bag of Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008.
It was time to have dinner with my colleagues. Some I even saw for the first time...;) But as you can see below, we had a very nice dinner at Asian Tower in Nieuwegein. After visiting an event like this, a beer, a drink, a coke, good food and good company one get good ideas what to do with the software, the things we just heard/learned and setting up some internal projects... Server... SharePoint... test labs... etc. etc. Well, no matter what... I'm game...
(Click on a picture for a larger view...)
Credits: Special thanks to Chris Stuij en Jan Peter Koen for their invaluable comment and advice. And Ted van den Pangaard for making this day possible. And last but not least Kim... my wife... ;)