At Microsoft, we are continuously working to deliver on our commitment to the security of our customers and their ecosystems. A core component of our strategy to inform Windows users about the safety of the websites, apps and software they’re accessing online is built into the Microsoft Trusted Root Certificate Program.
The Microsoft Security Intelligence Report (SIR) provides a regular snapshot of the current threat landscape, using data from more than 600 million computers worldwide.
In March 2014, we observed a patched Adobe Flash vulnerability (CVE-2015-0336) being exploited in the wild. Adobe released the patch on March 12, 2014, and exploit code using this vulnerability first appeared about a week later. To help stay protected: Keep your Microsoft security software, such as Windows Defender for Windows 8.1 up-to-date.
Protecting the modern workplace from a wide range of undesirable software Our evaluation criteria describe the characteristics and behavior of malware and potentially unwanted applications and guide the proper identification of threats. Learn how we classify malicious software, unwanted software, and potentially unwanted applications. Read the blog post.
Most ransomware has a binary file that needs to be executed before it can infect your PC. Ransomware usually relies on social engineering or exploits to infect unsuspecting users. However, some malware authors are bypassing this requirement with a new trick – browser lockers.
(Note: Read about Windows Defender Antivirus cloud protection service in this blog entry: Windows Defender Antivirus cloud protection service: Advanced real-time defense against never-before-seen malware.) Microsoft is using cloud protection to help keep our customers safe. In fact, nearly any detection made by Microsoft security products could be the result of cloud protection.
Recently we have seen an emerging trend among malware distributors – Bitcoin miners being integrated into installers of game repacks.
A vulnerability disclosure, as the term is used in the Microsoft Security Intelligence Report, is the revelation of a software vulnerability to the public at large. Disclosures can come from a variety of sources, including publishers of the affected software, security software vendors, independent security researchers, and even malware creators.
One of the questions I get asked from time to time is about the days of risk between the time that a vulnerability is disclosed and when we first see active exploitation of it; i.e. how long do organizations have to deploy the update before active attacks are going to happen?
Today we’re announcing the release of the Microsoft Threat Modeling Tool 2014. This is the latest version of the free Security Development Lifecycle Threat Modeling Tool that was previously released back in 2011.
Protecting the modern workplace from a wide range of undesirable software Our evaluation criteria describe the characteristics and behavior of malware and potentially unwanted applications and guide the proper identification of threats. Learn how we classify malicious software, unwanted software, and potentially unwanted applications. Read the blog post.
Back in April I published a post about the end of support for Windows XP called The Countdown Begins: Support for Windows XP Ends on April 8, 2014.
