October 2021 News & Updates
- Microsoft and Apple (oddly enough) released updates to bugs that are being actively attacked.
- Adobe released updates to a number of products including Reader, Acrobat, Commerce and Connect.
- The MyIT Program is proving to be a huge win for clients who are signing up for or renewing their Ransomware / Cyber Insurance plans. The MyIT Program is designed to address those important (but, sometimes, not as urgent) issues that seem to go undone until there’s a problem (like testing your backup before a ransomware attack). In many cases, the regular maintenance items addressed by the MyIT Silver program address all of these (and more). Two things that really set the MyIT Program apart from other MSP type offerings is that a) there is no term agreement, cancel at any time and b) it’s priced based on the number of workstations and servers in your environment so it can easily scale up or down as your needs change. Additional information is available here.
- 2021 Holiday Schedule. Emergency IT Support will be available during these times to commercial and MyIT clients at holiday rates.
- Thanksgiving – Closing Thursday, 25 November 2021 and returning Monday, 29 November 2021.
- Christmas – Closing Friday, 24 December 2021 and returning Monday, 27 December.
- New Year – Closing Friday, 31 December 2021 and returning Monday, 3 January 2022
Microsoft patched 81 (or 70, depending on what you’re reading) bugs this month, with at least 3 rated critical, 3 were already disclosed (at least one of those is being actively exploited). One of the critical bugs, CVE-2021-26427 in Microsoft Exchange, has a CVSS Score of 9.0 (the highest / worst is 10). Also included in the mix are updates to Hyper-V (CVE-2021-38672 and CVE-2021-40461), Microsoft Word and yet another vulnerability in the Print Spooler (CVE-2021-36970) that was discovered by the same folks that discovered the PrintNightmare vulnerability.
Microsoft releases regular updates the second Tuesday of each month, often referred to as ‘Patch Tuesday’. These updates are categorized as Low, Moderate, Important or Critical. Details on the categories are available here. The updates can include any supported Microsoft product from Windows to Office to Internet Explorer and server products like Exchange and SQL Server. If you have one or more of these products installed, especially if the update is listed as Important or Critical, it’s important that the updates are installed.
Additional details on this months Microsoft updates are available from the Patch Tuesday Dashboard, Brian Krebs and SANS
Adobe released at least 15 patches ranging from Important to Critical and covering most their fleet including Acrobat Reader, Acrobat, InCopy, InDesign, Framemaker, Photoshop, Photoshop Elements and others.
Like Microsoft, Adobe now releases updates to their products on the second Tuesday of each month. Adobe will also release ‘out of band’ updates if necessary to address critical vulnerabilities in their products. Adobe products include Adobe Reader (for viewing PDF files), Adobe Flash Player (often used to watch videos, for interactive content like games, etc.), Adobe Shockwave and the Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat, Lightroom, etc
Additional details are available from Adobe Here including links to download the update(s) and instructions for installation.
Apple released iOS 15.0.2 and iPadOS 15.0.2 to address a zero day vulnerability (CVE-2021-30883) that is being actively used to target iPhone and iPad users. Additional information on this vulnerability and how to update your devices is available from Apple Here.
Need IT Support for your Home or Business? We’d love to help!
Are you a small to medium sized business looking to leverage technology and enable your business and workforce to work smarter and more efficiently? Do you already have computers, servers, firewalls, VPNs or other technology that you’re not taking full advantage of? Are you looking for an IT Service Provider who understands small to medium sized businesses needs and the challenges that we face that can work with you to grow your business rather than just sell you time?
Cyber Tech Cafe an IT Service Company with a focus on helping small to medium business get the most out of their technology investment. As a small business ourselves, we understand the challenges you face and have designed our service offerings to help you get the most out of your technology dollar. We offer on-call, as needed support if you just need a quick fix or extra set of hands right now. We also offer maintenance plans that we call “MyIT” that are designed to address the most common concerns (patch management, disaster recovery / backup, log review, etc.) that are based on the number of workstations and servers that you have and have no term contract. We believe that, if you find value in what we’re doing, you’ll find a way to keep us around without contract saying that you have to.
If you have questions about the MyIT plans or have an IT need that you need addressed right now, let us know. We look forward to the opportunity to earn your business.