Last sunday I warned about a major vulnerability in Java.
It wasn’t expected that Java would come have an update available this quickly, but it is good that they did. So be sure to update to Java 7 Update 11 : http://java.com
Category Archives: Windows 2003
Security – Major Java vulnerability, don’t become a victim
[EDIT 14-01-2013]
Oracle release Java 7 Update 11 to fix this security issue. Be sure to update: http://java.com/
[EDIT]
Normally when I read about security vulnerabilities, I don’t really get a sense of urgency.
With the current Java vulnerability however, I do feel like people have to act quick because there are so many respected companies and even countries actively taking action:
- Apple has disabled the Java 7 plugin on Macs through its OS X anti-malware system, in order to protect users from a potentially serious security issue
- Cisco: New Java Vulnerability Being Exploited in the Wild
- Mozilla Security Blog: Protecting Users Against Java Vulnerability in FireFox
- United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) suggests disabling Java
Apparently this vulnerability is actively being exploited already and Oracle hasn’t released a Java fix yet. You might want to consider a combination of the options below:
- Updating Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) signatures (Cisco signature)
- Uninstall Java (Windows | Mac OS X)
- Disabling Java only for web browsers
- Disabling Java in specific web browsers
Personally I like the way FireFox is handling the issue because it blocks by default, but allows users to easily override this behavior for specific sites. Also I’m getting quite fed up with all these Java security vulnerabilities lately 😦
I’d like to know what you’ll be doing. Have you or are you going to disable Java ? Which methods will you use ? Why ?
PowerShell – Slipstream Office 2003 Updates
In yesterday’s post I described how you could extract Office 2003 updates. When they are extracted however, they still need to be slipstreamed into the package. I also created this script to automate the slipstreaming.
Basically for each extracted patch (.msp) file, it runs msiexec with the correct parameters. So if you have other msi packages that need multiple patch (.msp) files applied to it, you could use this script as a foundation as well.
PowerShell – Extract Office 2003 Updates
Not so long ago I had to create a new Office 2003 Administrative Installation Point.
There were 2 choices:
- Use the default ISO and have WSUS handle patching after each install.
- Slipstream all available patches in the Office 2003 Administrative Installation Point.
Ofcourse option 2 is the best choice, because then the package will be the most secure from the moment the software is deployed. Also it saves bandwidth and time.
To slipstream updates into Office 2003, there are basically 4 steps:
- Extract the original Office 2003 files.
- Download the updates you want to slipstream.
- Extract the updates you want to slipstream.
- Slipstream the updates into the extracted Office 2003 files.
You can imagine that the older the source files are, the more updates there are to be slipstreamed. So it is best to use an ISO/CD of Office 2003 with the latest Service Pack.
Still if you have the latest Service Pack, you need to slipstream more than 20 updates. I personally don’t like these kind of manual tasks, so I created this script to do the extraction of the updates for me.
Ofcourse this script can be used to extract other kinds of updates as well..
Certification – Microsoft MTA exams now available at commercial testing centers
Microsoft Technology Associate (MTA) courses and exams are aimed at people new to specific IT areas of expertises. Previously these exams were available only to academic students, faculty, and staff. Now, anyone can take these exams.
Exams available at this moment are:
- Exam 98-349: Windows Operating System Fundamentals
- Exam 98-365: Windows Server Administration Fundamentals
- Exam 98-366: Networking Fundamentals
- Exam 98-367: Security Fundamentals
- Exam 98-364: Database Fundamentals
- Exam 98-361: Software Development Fundamentals
- Exam 98-362: Windows Development Fundamentals
- Exam 98-363: Web Development Fundamentals
- Exam 98-372: .NET Fundamentals
- Exam 98-375: HTML5 App Development Fundamentals
More information about MTA can be found here.
Also to stay up-to-date regarding Microsoft learning and certification news, be sure to follow developments on the Born To Learn blog.
Great overview of Microsoft certification paths
There are many Microsoft certification paths and in my opinion a good overview was missing to determine what exams you need to pass. That is until now, because the overview shown below is great:
For more information, read the original blog post at borntolearn : http://borntolearn.mslearn.net/microsoft_it_academy/b/weblog/archive/2012/11/20/infographic-microsoft-it-academy-certification-roadmap.aspx
Also if you’re planning to pursue a certification, please leave a comment what your plans are and why.
My RSS feeds for keeping up with ICT news/developments (Microsoft, VMware, Cloud and gadgets)
Currently, there are many technological advancements taking place every day. To keep up with them is already very hard. To make it a bit easier I use RSS feeds to quickly filter what I think might be of importance to me.
A list of the RSS feeds I currently use can be found here , but you can also download an XML export of my RSS feeds here for easy import to your preferred RSS reader (assuming it supports XML import). I also advise you to check Microsoft’s RSS feed index so you can customize it to your own needs.
I personally use Google Reader for my RSS feeds because then my RSS feeds will be accessible from everywhere as long as I have a browser and an internet connection. When you are often on the road without an active internet connection, a dedicated client with cached articles from the RSS feed might also come in handy.
PS: The Microsoft blog rss feed had many articles added daily and can be hard to keep up with, but you can pretty quickly weed out duplicate articles and articles in foreign languages.
I hope this has been helpful to you.
blog.bjornhouben.com 