In my previous two blog posts, we looked at the insights and interesting findings contained within the latest Microsoft Security Intelligence Report. The report is now getting some press in the tech community, and one article in particular caught my attention. A report published by H Security notes, with some surprise, that “users are responsible for nearly half of all infections.” This doesn’t surprise me at all, though.Read more
MSIR Indicates Users Are Weak Link in Computer Security
October 14th, 2011 | Posted by in Microsoft | Security | Security Awareness & Training - (0 Comments)In yesterday’s article I detailed some interesting results from the latest Microsoft Security Intelligence Report from the Key Findings Summary. I’ve now made it through several more sections and wish to highlight some more interesting data.Read more
Interesting Insights from the Latest MSIR
October 12th, 2011 | Posted by in Malware | Microsoft | Monitoring | Security | Security Awareness & Training - (2 Comments)The latest Microsoft Security Intelligence Report (Volume 11) has been released and contains some interesting information that Microsoft has collected from the execution of its Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT) and Internet Explorer SmartScreen® data. Several of the results confirm what those of us in the network security monitoring community already know: Java is the most often exploited application (page xvii), Adobe Acrobat exploits account for most malicious documents (page xviii), and Adware is the most common type of malware identified (page xx). Microsoft also stated that over a third of malware detected could spread via the AutoRun feature on removable media or on network shares. Updates exist that help make the AutoRun feature in XP and Vista more like the one in Windows 7, which is to say more secure. Deploy those updates.Read more
Well, installation wasn’t too bad. It took about 20 minutes or so. As a bonus, all of my settings seem to be intact and all of my programs continue to function properly. Even our corporate AV is working… I hope this isn’t premature, but: Good job, Microsoft.
So Vista SP2 is now available to the masses. I’ve downloaded it and am in the process of installing it. So far no problems, but it is claiming that my machine may reboot several times and the total installation time may be 1 hour or more. Here’s hoping the upgrade goes smoothly and I still have full functionality when the process completes…I’ll post my results here later today.






