Today is the 2nd Tuesday of the month and you know what that means: Patch Tuesday! Today’s fixes, eight in total, include several security fixes and improvements to Windows 8.1 including a fix for the security flaw that Google exposed two days ago. The updates are all available now and if you haven’t updated, run Windows Update to get them.
The updates include are whole host of fixes to Windows and there is an optional update for .NET 4.1 as well in the updates. The most notable is the fix for the Windows flaw that Google expose two days ago. That revelation has firmly irked Microsoft given that it was only days away from releasing a fix for the flaw. Microsoft’s stance has been that Google unnecessarily exposed the public to an issue which hackers could take advantage of prior to the fix being released. Google’s stance is that they have an obligation to release the information in is 90 day window after a bug is found as part of their Google Code on Sunday scheme. Microsoft and Google appeared to have been in communication about the bug and Microsoft indicates they asked Google not to release the information given the fix was coming in roughly 48 hours.
Google declined and released it.
There is plenty of blame to go around on this one: Google could have been a good corporate citizen and worked with Microsoft while Microsoft it could be argued should patch issues with their Operating System faster. Ultimately though nobody wins in this situation. The public is exposed more importantly and that, it seems, Google wasn’t overly bothered about. Paul Thurrott’s commentary on the subject is well worth a read and given his background with Windows and Microsoft as a whole, I think has a valid perspective.
Regardless of where you stand on the “Who’s right and who’s wrong” argument of the issue, go get the updates so you don’t have to worry about it.
Personally, I’d love to see a cage match between Microsoft and Google. Until then…
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