As announced last Friday, Microsoft released 3 Security Bulletins which deal with patches for 4 security vulnerabilities. One of them is rated critical and resides within the DirectShow framework for the Windows Media Player and Windows Media Center. Other security vulnerabilities which allow for remote code execution affect the Remote Desktop Client and Microsoft Groove. Users and administrators should make sure to install the updates soon.

Also, Google released yet another stable version of its Chrome webbrowser, version 10.0.648.127. In this release, 23 security holes get closed by the developers – past week, they already fixed 18 vulnerabilities. This time, 15 of them are rated “high”ly critical, 3 medium and 5 low.Some additional features make the new version even more interesting: A new version of the JavaScript interpreter which is said to be faster, sandboxed Adobe Flash Player in the Windows version of Chrome, and GPU accelerated video playback, to name a few.

The new release is available via automatic update and thus should be installed already. To make sure to use the latest version, click on the Tool symbol in Chrome and click on “About Chrome”.

As the Mozilla developers also rushed out with a new browser version a short time ago too, one could assume that this may have to do with the upcoming Pwn2Own contest at the CanSecWest security conference where hackers can win cash prizes by hacking into a PC – for example via the webbrowser. Anyhow, since the new versions close security vulnerabilities that cyber crooks can abuse to hijack the computer, it is a good idea to install them ASAP!

Dirk Knop
Technical Editor

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