I just got done reading an article about 3,000 online banking customers whose credentials were stolen and money siphoned off their accounts. In total, over $1,000,000 was stolen.
How did this happen? Criminals compromised web sites, which in turn were visited by banking customers who hadn’t, for whatever reason, bothered to download and install security patches for their computers. In the end, the Zeus trojan ended up on their computer, which stole the banking credentials.
You can read more about this story here.
This past Tuesday (August 10, 2010), Microsoft released 14 security bulletins that announced 34 vulnerabilities. It only takes one vulnerability to compromise your computer. My colleague Bill Hely has written an excellent blog post that spells out the details of what you need to do to ensure that Windows gets its security updates.
Another reminder: If you are still running Windows XP with Service Pack 2 installed, you MUST upgrade to Service Pack 3 to continue to receive support. There’s a good chance that at least one of those 34 vulnerabilities affects XP with Service Pack 2, but since it’s no longer supported, you’ll most likely never know. And while there are articles floating about that tell you how to hack your system’s registry to trick XP into thinking that it’s running Service Pack 3 (so that it will install patches), I strongly recommend that you NOT do it. Why? Because those patches weren’t tested on Service Pack 2, there’s a good chance that a patch will turn your computer into a doorstop, etc.
How many known vulnerabilities exist on your computer RIGHT NOW? Even one also puts your business at risk. Take the time NOW to ensure that your system — and business — is protected.
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