[German]Another short news item that came to my attention the other day. Comparitech, a British consumer information and comparison site that is also active in the field of security, was taken over in the fall of 2021 by Aura, which on the other hand also bought the provider of Hotspot Shield (from Pango). Here's a quick look at a rather opaque scene.
[German]There are indications that Microsoft is extending its "Search Highlights" feature in the search area of the taskbar to significantly more users. In the German as well as in the English blog, I receive user messages that are more than unsettled about this innovation and believe to have "bent" something. Annoyed users, however, have the option to hide this nonsense that Microsoft's developers are once again unleashing on mankind.
[German]In Windows 10 and Windows 11, Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC) and AppLocker are available as features in the enterprise variants (Windows 10/11 Enterprise) as security features (see this post). Now, Microsoft has published a list of recommended blocking rules in mid-May 2022 that I just came across.
[German]The April and May 2022 cumulative updates could cause error 0xC002001B to occur on Windows 10 20H2 – 21H2 when installing apps from the Store. In addition, there were cases where the apps stopped launching. Microsoft released unscheduled updates on May 19, 2022 to fix this bug as well. In a deeper wrap-up, I once again summarize some of the information that can be found in various places at Microsoft on this topic.
[German]A few hours ago, the Conti ransomware gang seems to have officially announced its resolutions and the cessation of all activities. The questions that remain: How long will this last? Will there be a sudden comeback? And do the actors involved in the Conti gang strike out on their own or join other ransomware groups?
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[German]Microsoft has released out-of-band updates for supported versions of Windows Server, effective May 19, 2022, to address issues caused by the May 10, 2022 security updates. This includes fixing the Active Directory authentication issue on domain controllers. However, I have since received several reports that the fix does not help, at least in certain constellations with NPS (Network Policy Server).
[German]In addition to the Firefox developers providing a security update for the Firefox browser (see Firefox 100.0.2 and 91.9.1esr released), wo critical vulnerabilities in the Thunderbird email client have also been fixed with the May 20, 2022 update to version 91.9.1.
[German]Quick reminder for administrators who support Windows Server 20H2 installations. Microsoft has announced the end of support for this server version for August 9, 2022. After that, Windows Server 20H2 will no longer receive updates. At the same time, the Windows Server Semi-Annual Channel (SAC) will be discontinued (I had already pointed out this plan in 2021 in the post Future Windows Server versions will only be available as LTSC. Windows 10 20H2 has already fallen out of support in May 2022.
[German]Microsoft has released a series of unscheduled updates (out-of-band updates) for supported versions of Windows (client and server) as of May 19, 2022, to correct issues caused by the May 10 security updates. These include the Active Directory authentication issue on domain controllers, but also a bug that prevents the installation of apps from the Microsoft Store.
MVP:
2013 – 2016
WIMVP:
2017 – 2020
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