Archives
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New infection rate data for unprotected computers
In the previous Microsoft Security Intelligence Report, SIRv14, we introduced a new metric to measure the infection rate for computers protected with real-time antimalware software (protected computers) in comparison to computers that were not protected with up-to-date security software (unprotected computers). Using this new data, we wrote a feature story about the risks of running unprotected. Our customers told us that providing this data really helped measure the value of running real-time antimalware software. It clearly showed that security software can provide a significant contribution to a computer’s protection level.
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Service Manager 2012 R2 – Fixes included
Thomas Ellermann posted a great breakdown on the updates in R2 for Service Manager 2012. The focus in R2 for Service Manager was to tackle some of the critical customer and MVP collected bugs. Service Managers R2 release saw no major performance improvements but we are targeting Console and Portal performance in the next update (UR) cycles. With that in mind a few of the R2 fixes are associated to improving console and workflow stability, and that can help a great deal with performance.
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Infection rates and end of support for Windows XP
In the newly released Volume 15 of the Microsoft Security Intelligence Report (SIRv15), one of the key findings to surface relates to new insight on the Windows XP operating system as it inches toward end of support on April 8, 2014.
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RSA Europe 2013: Operational Security for Online Services
By Mike Reavey, General Manager, Trustworthy Computing
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New Security Intelligence Report, new data, new perspectives
Today, Microsoft released volume 15 of the Microsoft Security Intelligence Report (SIRv15). The report analyzes malware, exploits and more based on data from more than a billion systems worldwide and some of the Internet’s busiest online services.
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Update: RAMMap v1.31
RAMMap v1.31: This update fixes a bug in v1.30 that caused RAMMap to fail on Windows 8.
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Some thoughts about System Center 2012 R2
As I’m sure everyone is aware, last week we released System Center 2012 R2. With this new release, I thought it would be a good idea to call attention to a great article written by Steve Bucci, one of our top Senior Support Escalation Engineers here on our System Center team. He wrote the article back in February of this year and it talks about how System Center is a team of products, and how it’s important to remember that all these separate components were designed to work better together. To borrow a phrase from Aristotle, it’s one of those things where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Steve’s article brings up points that you may want to reconsider with the release of System Center 2012 R2 so if you get a free minute sometime this week I’d invite you to give it a quick read. -
Getting Seniors in the Game
By Trustworthy Computing Staff
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A New Era of Operational Security in Online Services
By Mike Reavey, General Manager, Trustworthy Computing
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Our protection metrics - September results
Earlier this year, we started publishing a new set of metrics on our portal – An evaluation of our protection performance and capabilities. These metrics show month over month how we do in three areas: coverage, quality, and customer experience in protecting our customers.
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Introduction: Chris Betz, new head of MSRC
By way of introduction, I am Chris Betz, the leader of the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC). I’m stepping in to fill the shoes of Mike Reavey, who has moved on to become the General Manager of Secure Operations, still within Trustworthy Computing.
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Configuring Lync 2013 VDI Plug-in support for QoS
Abstract: This article leads the reader through the process of enabling DSCP marking for Windows access computers that run the Lync 2013 VDI Plug-in to deliver a great audio and video experience on networks where QoS has been deployed. Author: Lester...(read more)
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Updates: PsExec v2.0, RAMMap v1.3, Sigcheck v2.0
PsExec v2.0: PsExec, a popular utility for executing processes on remote systems, introduces a new option, -r, that specifies the name PsExec assigns to its remote service. This can improve performance when multiple users are interacting concurrently with a system, since each will have a dedicated PsExec service.
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Backup Service: General Availability Release of Windows Azure Backup
With the General Availability of Windows Azure Backup we have made several reliability improvements to ensure you are able to meet your offsite cloud backup needs. There will be no impact to your backups as Windows Azure Backup moves from preview to General Availability. You can continue managing cloud backups from familiar backup tools in Windows Server, Windows Server Essentials, or the Data Protection Manager component of Microsoft System Center. We recommend that you upgrade to the latest version of the Windows Azure Backup agent. Please follow the steps in the agent upgrade notification which would be visible in the backup console of your servers
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Update 2: Announcing the Release of the Lync Server Networking Guide v2
We've updated some of the queries to address the issues you identified and posted a new version of the files to download. Look for the 2013 KHIs to be added soon. An updated version of the Networking Guide is now available here: Lync Server Networking...(read more)
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10 Years of Cyber Security Awareness
By Jacqueline Beauchere, Chief Online Safety Officer, Microsoft
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Announcing the General Availability of System Center 2012 R2: Management Delivered
The Cloud OS vision combines Microsoft knowledge and experiences with today’s trends and technology innovations to deliver a modern platform of products and services that helps organizations transform their current server environment into a highly elastic, scalable, and reliable cloud infrastructure. Utilizing the software that powers the Cloud OS vision, organizations can quickly and flexibly build and manage modern applications across platforms, locations, and devices, unlock insights from volumes of existing and new data, and support end-user productivity wherever and on whatever device they choose. At the heart of Cloud OS is Windows Server 2012 R2 and System Center 2012 R2.
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Join the conversation about Microsoft solutions content
Microsoft is getting into the solutions content business. What does this mean? Multiple teams across Microsoft are now focusing all or part of their time on developing and publishing lab-tested, multi-product, end-to-end solution content. For example...(read more)
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HOTFIX: An update is available that improves the reliability of offsite backup operations in the Windows Azure Backup agent
We published a new KB article that describes an update that is available for Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, and Microsoft System Center 2012 Data Protection Manager. This update improves the reliability of offsite backup operations that you perform by using the Windows Azure Backup agent. We recommend that you install this update to upgrade to the latest version of the Windows Azure Backup agent. -
Cloud OS Community Relay (UK)
Join Microsoft and a panel of MVP speakers at the Cloud OS Relay, to learn about the Cloud OS and how this technology suite from Microsoft can transform your business. Speakers such as Gordon McKenna, David Allen, Damian Flynn, and Simon Skinner and more will be covering all things Cloud OS! The big topics of these sessions will be:
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10 years of Update Tuesdays
On October 1, 2003, Microsoft announced it would move to a monthly security bulletin cadence. Today, marks 10 years since that first monthly security update. We looked at many ways to improve our security preparedness and patch timing was the number one customer request. Your feedback was clear and we delivered a predictable schedule.
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October 2013 Security Bulletin Webcast, Q&A, and Slide Deck
Today we’re publishing the October 2013 Security Bulletin Webcast Questions & Answers page. We fielded 11 questions during the webcast, with specific bulletin questions focusing primarily on the SharePoint (MS13-084) and Kernel-Mode Drivers (MS13-081) bulletins. There was one additional question that we were unable to answer on air, and we have included a response to that question on the Q&A page.
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Redirect hides browser extension
While analyzing a malicious Chrome browser extension we recently came across a Virtool that tries to redirect the Chrome Extension page.
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Microsoft supports continuing work toward a 'Do Not Track' standard
By Adrienne Hall, General Manager, Trustworthy Computing
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Our commitment to Microsoft antimalware
We are fully committed to protecting our consumer and business customers from malware. Our strong solutions provide the comprehensive defense needed against malicious code and attacks. Our support of antimalware partners helps in building a strong and diverse ecosystem to fight malware.
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Lync Server 2013 Certificate Authentication and Passive Authentication support for Lync 2013 Mobile applications
Abstract: Following up on our announcement today about new features available with updated Lync 2013 Mobile clients, we are excited to share more details about Lync 2013 Mobile client’s support for certificate authentication and passive authentication...(read more)
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MSRT October 2013 – Shiotob
This month the Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT) is giving some special attention to two malware families - Win32/Foidan and Win32/Shiotob.
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Trust and Transparency Continue to be Important for Cloud Customers
By Adrienne Hall, General Manager, Trustworthy Computing
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The October 2013 security updates
This month we release eight bulletins – four Critical and four Important - which address 25* unique CVEs in Microsoft Windows, Internet Explorer, SharePoint, .NET Framework, Office, and Silverlight. For those who need to prioritize their deployment planning, we recommend focusing on MS13-080, MS13-081, and MS13-083.
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An update on the bounty programs
Back in June of this year, we announced three new bounty programs that will pay researchers for techniques that bypass built-in OS mitigations and protections, for defenses that stop those bypasses and for vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer 11 Preview. This past Friday, we provided some additional details about the results of the IE11 Preview bounty program, which covered the first 30 days of the preview period. Today, we are announcing James Forshaw, a security researcher with Context Information Security, has been awarded the first Mitigation Bypass Bounty, which comes with a prize of $100,000.00. As a reminder, this is an ongoing program, so if you are interested in participating, check out all the details here.
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Lync 2013 Support added to System Center Advisor
Abstract: System Center Advisor is a free service that helps IT Pros avoid known issues in their Lync deployments as well as other workloads. This post is to announce the support for Lync 2013. Authors: Mohamad Saleem, Kaushal Mehta, Nick Rosenfeld...(read more)
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Advance Notification Service for October 2013 Security Bulletin Release
Today we’re providing advance notification for the release of eight bulletins, four Critical and four Important, for October 2013. The Critical updates address vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer, .NET Framework and Windows. The Critical update for Internet Explorer will be a cumulative update which will address the publicly disclosed issue described in Security Advisory 2887505.
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Cloud Security: New Challenges, Same Principles
By Adrienne Hall, General Manager, Trustworthy Computing