Window Cleaning

Today is Patch Tuesday, the day when Microsoft issues security patches and bug fixes for its software.

This month’s update contains eight critically rated updates, which repair problems with Windows, Office, Media Player, Internet Explorer 6, and SQL Server, among others.

One of the patches is designed to fix problems with Graphics Device Interface (GDI+), described as ‘one of the foundations of graphic display in Windows’ by Andrew Storm, head of security with nCircle, a security consultancy.

The flaw allows attackers to hijack a system through an emailed image file, or by persuading them to view a webpage containing malicious image files.

‘Anyone running XP or newer – and who isn’t these days – will have to update,’ Storm told Computerworld.

Well, the computer I’m writing this article on is running Ubuntu, a Linux distribution. Granted, the Linux share of computers worldwide is a little less than one percent, but a little over eight times as many computers are running Mac.

And just in case you think this is just another anti-Microsoft rant, I installed a venerable but reconditioned computer for my brother a few months ago, running Windows 2000.

Which just goes to show, security experts can be myopic too.

By Gerard Cunningham

Gerard Cunningham occupies his time working as a journalist, writer, sub-editor, blogger and podcaster, yet still finds himself underemployed.