Security threats Toolkit

Story: Microsoft to issue patch for critical PowerPoint hole

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Other enterprise software patches expected for next week.....

Other than the Microsoft PowerPoint patch we were waiting for, Adobe is releasing additional patches to address the current Adobe Reader issues across multiple versions next week which will also have an impact on IT.

Since the beginning of the year, we’ve been worrying about Adobe vulnerabilities (see recent blog post). It’s important to remember that historically, files like Adobe PDF files, Word, Excel or PowerPoint files have been ideal vehicles for targeted attacks because these attachments are socially acceptable and expected attachments within corporate email. The use of a file like a PDF as a vehicle for the delivery of malware gives the hacker an added advantage. It’s anticipated that AV vendors will create better signatures from the information contained within the patch to identify infected files. However, the bad guys will simply start obfuscating the current exploit to try to capture more unpatched users once the patch goes out on Tuesday. Earlier this month, we found at least half a dozen Chinese web sites that were hosting malicious PDF files using the most current vulnerability. After Tuesday, they’ll simply do a better job of hiding their malware.

We now live in an environment where compromised applications have now become a delivery mechanism for additional downloaded and executed malware such as key-loggers and rootkits. The most effective risk mitigation therefore, continues to be lumension application control to prevent a compromised application from downloading and running any unauthorised software (including malware) on a user’s PC.

While there is a relatively small number of patches from Microsoft this month, IT departments will clearly have plenty to keep them busy as other popular enterprise software, besides Microsoft, will also require installation.

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