Security News

Microsoft pushes emergency fix for Windows Server 2019 update errors
2024-05-24 00:32

Microsoft has released an emergency out-of-band update for Windows Server 2019 that fixes a bug causing 0x800f0982 errors when attempting to install the May 2024 Patch Tuesday security updates. "Yep, 6 Windows Server 2019 by different Costumers. All the same issue: error 0x800f0982," reported a Windows admin on Reddit.

Windows 11 24H2 now rolling out to Release Preview Insiders
2024-05-22 18:58

Microsoft is rolling out Windows 11 24H2 to testers in the Release Preview Channel, confirming that it is in the final stages of testing. "Today, we are making this year's annual feature update Windows 11, version 24H2 available in the Release Preview Channel for customers to preview ahead of general availability later this calendar year," Microsoft revealed in a recent blog post.

Microsoft's new Windows 11 Recall is a privacy nightmare
2024-05-22 16:02

Microsoft's announcement of the new AI-powered Windows 11 Recall feature has sparked a lot of concern, with many thinking that it has created massive privacy risks and a new attack vector that threat actors can exploit to steal data. While it's currently only available on Copilot+ PCs running Snapdragon X ARM processors, Microsoft says they are working with Intel and AMD to bring the feature to all Windows 11 devices.

Windows’ new Recall feature: A privacy and security nightmare?
2024-05-22 12:21

Microsoft has announced the Copilot+ line of Windows 11-powered PCs that, among other things, will have Recall, a feature that takes screenshots every few seconds, encrypts them, saves them, and leverages AI to allow users to search through them for specific content that has been viewed in apps, websites, documents, etc. "Once you find the snapshot that you were looking for in Recall, it will be analysed and offer you options to interact with the content. What actions you can take depend on the content and the chat provider capabilities in Copilot in Windows. For example, you may highlight a block of text and decide to summarise it, translate it, or open it with a text editor like Word or Notepad. If you highlight an image, you will be able to edit it or use your chat provider in Copilot in Windows to find or create a similar image," Microsoft explains.

Windows 11 to Deprecate NTLM, Add AI-Powered App Controls and Security Defenses
2024-05-21 09:02

 Microsoft on Monday confirmed its plans to deprecate NT LAN Manager (NTLM) in Windows 11 in the second half of the year, as it announced a slew of new security measures to harden the widely-used...

Windows 11 Recall AI feature will record everything you do on your PC
2024-05-20 18:58

Microsoft has announced a new AI-powered feature for Windows 11 called 'Recall,' which records everything you do on your PC and lets you search through your historical activities. To use Recall on Windows, you'll need a Copilot+ PC that supports 40 TOPs NPU, a Snapdragon X chip, 16GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage.

Ransomware gang targets Windows admins via PuTTy, WinSCP malvertising
2024-05-18 18:23

A ransomware operation targets Windows system administrators by taking out Google ads to promote fake download sites for Putty and WinSCP. WinSCP and Putty are popular Windows utilities, with WinSCP being an SFTP client and FTP client and Putty an SSH client. System administrators commonly have higher privileges on a Windows network, making them valuable targets for threat actors who want to quickly spread through a network, steal data, and gain access to a network's domain controller to deploy ransomware.

Microsoft: Windows Server 2019 updates fail with 0x800f0982 errors
2024-05-16 14:25

Microsoft has acknowledged a new known issue causing this month's KB5037765 security update for Windows Server 2019 to fail to install with 0x800f0982 errors. This confirmation comes after many Windows admins reported seeing install failures when trying to deploy cumulative updates released during the May 2024 Patch Tuesday on Windows Server 2019 systems.

Windows Quick Assist abused in Black Basta ransomware attacks
2024-05-15 17:06

Financially motivated cybercriminals abuse the Windows Quick Assist feature in social engineering attacks to deploy Black Basta ransomware payloads on victims' networks. During this voice phishing attack, the attackers trick the victims into granting them access to their Windows devices by launching the Quick Assist built-in remote control and screen-sharing tool.

Microsoft fixes VPN failures caused by April Windows updates
2024-05-14 20:15

"Windows devices might face VPN connection failures after installing the April 2024 security update or the April 2024 non-security preview update," Redmond explains on the Windows health dashboard. The list of impacted Windows versions includes Windows 11, Windows 10, and Windows Server 2008 and later.