November 2024 News and Updates

  • Upcoming End of Life for Windows 10 – We’re officially under one year before the Windows 10 End of Life (EOL), currently scheduled for 14 October 2025. Prior to that date, you will need to make certain that all Windows 10 computers are either upgraded (Windows 11 Requirements) or replaced. Additional information is available from Microsoft here.
  • Holiday Schedule
    • Thanksgiving – We will be closed Thursday, 28 November and Friday, 29 November 2024 for the Thanksgiving holiday and the office will open for regular business hours on Monday, 2 December 2024.
    • Christmas – We will be closed Tuesday, 24 December and Wednesday, 25 December 2024 for the Christmas holiday and the office will open for regular business hours on Thursday, 26 December 2024.
    • New Year – We will be closed Tuesday, 31 December 2024 and Wednesday, 1 January 2025 for the New Year holiday and the office will open for regular business hours on Thursday, 2 January 2025.
  • Client Forms – In an effort to make requesting support easier for common tasks (onboarding and offboarding users, for example), we are launching a number of forms that clients can use to request support. Links to the forms are located at the top of our website under Client Forms.

Updates

MicrosoftThe November 2024 Patch Tuesday from Microsoft includes patches for at least 89 vulnerabilities, including two zero day vulnerabilities (CVE-2024-49039, a privilege execution vulnerability in Windows Task Scheduler and CVE-2024-43451 that could be used in a pass-the-hash attack) and that are already being exploited in the wild and two other bugs ( CVE-2024-49019, a bug in Active Directory Certificate Services and CVE-2024-49040, a bug in Exchange Server) that were publicly disclosed prior to the patch release.

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 Krebs on Security, SANS Internet Storm Center and the Patch Tuesday Dashboard.


Adobe has patched eight bugs this month, including several that are rated critical, across it’s product line including Bridge, Audition, After Effects, Substance 3D Printer, Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop and Commerce but, for the second month in a row, nothing for Reader.

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.


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.

Article Submitted by Nathan J. Underwood, CEH