Microsoft is distributing the most important security update of the year, if not the last five years .
On the standard Windows patch release date, the second Tuesday of this month, Microsoft is pushing out a patch to users that addresses the "major" problem caused by the FREAK bug. With a technique that became known as FREAK, it "breaks" the encryption of websites that are protected by what appears to be a secure connection with weak 512-bit keys.
The vulnerability was discovered by Microsoft and the French Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation. It was initially thought to be limited to Apple (all versions of Safari) and the browsers that come with Android phones (stock Android), with Chrome being excluded. It was later found to also affect Windows machines.
- The patch that addresses FREAK in Windows is MS15-031.
Apple on Monday released iOS 8.2, an update that includes a patch for the Safari vulnerability.
In addition, the March 2015 security update comes to shield Windows systems from the “first digital weapon.” The Stuxnet worm was the one used five years ago to target industrial control systems at an Iranian nuclear power plant and served as a benchmark for how a computer program can cause real-world damage, as Stuxnet destroyed real equipment.
- The patch for Stuxnet, which disables the ability to execute code remotely without the user's knowledge, is MS15-020.
Source: tech.in.gr
