Small note to administrators in the Windows environment. As far as I know, it hasn't been officially announced yet, but Microsoft is working on renaming its Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC). If not everything is wrong, the function will soon be called Application Control for Business. At least that's according to Group Policy designations distributed with Windows Insider Previews.
[German]It's a topic that has been addressed several times here on the blog: The days of using the TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1 protocols to communicate with servers are coming to an end. The protocols are no longer considered secure and should no longer be used. Microsoft has again taken the opportunity on September 1, 2023 to inform administrators that the two protocols will be disabled "in the near future" under Windows "in upcoming operating system versions".
[German]A short update from the end of August 2023. Security researchers have found two vulnerabilities in the 7-Zip program, which is used to pack and unpack ZIP archive files. The vulnerabilities CVE-2023-40481 and CVE-2023-31102 are classified as high-risk from a security perspective. Attackers could possibly elevate privileges.
Security researchers at ElectricIQ have discovered a vulnerability in the routines of the Key Group ransomware that allowed decryption tools to recover encrypted files. The decryption tool only works on a specific version of the ransomware developed around Aug. 3, the vendor said. The Python script can be found at the end of this article, which also includes some details about the ransomware. The Register published this article on the subject in late August 2023.
Microsoft has released a firmware update for its Surface Laptop 4 on August 31, 2023, which is supposed to fix security issues and a charging problem. In addition, there is probably the (presumably) last firmware update for the Surface Duo smartphone.
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[German]Another small addendum from this week: The Japanese CERT warns of a new technique used by cyber attackers who take malicious Word files and embed them in PDF documents. This "packaging" is intended to bypass the detection of the malicious Office documents by security software. JPCERT/CC first observed such attack techniques, known as MalDoc, via infected PDF files in July 2023.
[German]On September 1, 2023, Microsoft once again announced which functions they want to part with in future Windows versions. In the new list, some functions are marked as 'deprecated'. So the security protocols for connections, TLS 1.0 and 1.1, are to die now finally. But also WordPad, which has been delivered with Windows for 28 years and is hardly used, is going to the old age and will disappear in the future.
[German]Several vulnerabilities (CVE-2023-40031, CVE-2023-40036, CVE-2023-40164, CVE-2023-40166) are believed to exist in the popular Notepad ++ editor and have been reported to the developer by a security researcher. The vulnerability ratings range from medium to high. Although this report was made several months ago, there is no security update for Notepad ++ yet, although several product updates have been made in the meantime. When an update will be available is currently open.
[German]With CU14, Microsoft pans to enable the Windows Server Extended Protection feature by default for Exchange Server 2019 for improved protection. However, it will be possible to deactivate this feature when installing the CU14 if required. Redmond has announced this as of August 28, 2023. Furthermore, there is the announcement that Exchange 2016/2019 will finally get support for HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS). Microsoft has also just announced this in a tech community post.
[German]Microsoft has released version 0.73.0 of its free PowerToys for Windows 10 and Windows 11 on August 31, 2023. In this version, the developer says it has focused on new features, stability and improvements. Here is an overview of the current status. Continue reading
MVP:
2013 – 2016
WIMVP:
2017 – 2020
