Security News
New research by FireEye's Mandiant cyber forensics arm has now revealed a previously unknown persistence mechanism that shows the adversaries made use of BITS to launch the backdoor. Introduced in Windows XP, BITS is a component of Microsoft Windows, which makes use of idle network bandwidth to facilitate the asynchronous transfer of files between machines.
Microsoft has released the KB5000842 non-security preview update for all editions of Windows 10, version 20H2, and Windows 10, version 2004, with fixes for system freezing and activation issues. After installing this cumulative update, you may experience issues with the system and user certificates getting lost if updating from Windows 10 1809 or later versions using outdated install media.
Microsoft is working to fix an issue causing a recently released Windows 10 21H1 build to fail to install for customers enrolled in the Windows Insider program. "Some Windows Insiders may experience an 0x800f081f error when attempting to install 21H1 Build 19043.906," Microsoft explained in an update added to the original KB5000842 announcement.
Microsoft is adding a dedicated OEMDRIVERS folder to Windows 10 that will be used to store third-party drivers. Since Windows Vista, the operating system has included a folder called %SystemRoot%System32DriverStore that is used to hold validated drivers for the operating system.
"Windows 10 comes with new settings that will allow advance users to gain greater control over how Windows Update installs new Windows 10 feature updates." Last year, Microsoft added the ability to set the specific Windows 10 feature update that you wish to keep using with the Group Policy editor.
Microsoft has updated the icons used in File Explorer to be the new Fluent icons, and while they look great, there is a tradeoff between design and functionality. Microsoft announced last year that they were beginning a process of migrating the existing Windows 10 icons to their Fluent design system, which is supported in Windows, iOS, Android, and web applications.
In 2021, Microsoft is planning to release exciting new Surface products and software updates for Windows 10. Windows 10 21H1. The first update of the year is Windows 10's Spring 2021 Update "21H1" and it's essentially based on version 2004 and version 20H2, and it'll be delivered via an enablement package.
A Windows hacker has found a never-before-seen Easter egg in the Windows 95 Internet Mail application, twenty-five years after the software was released. This week, a new Easter egg in Windows 95's Internet Mail program has been discovered by Windows hacker and developer Albacore, opening a secret window that displays a scrolling list of the developer's names.
Microsoft has released the Windows 10 1909 KB5000850 cumulative update preview and a new KB5001205 Servicing Stack Update that resolves a Secure Boot vulnerability. The KB5001205 Servicing Stack Update will automatically be installed by Windows Update to improve the update experience.
Cisco this week announced the release of software updates that address several vulnerabilities in Jabber for desktop and mobile platforms, the most severe of which could be abused to execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges. The bugs impact Cisco Jabber for Windows, macOS, and mobile platforms, and are not dependable to one another.