Slew of Critical Updates from Microsoft

Jerry Bryant, senior security communications manager lead at Microsoft, says "As always, it's recommended that customers deploy all security updates as soon as possible. Of the bulletins released this month, customers should prioritize and deploy MS10-006, MS10-007, MS10-008, and MS10-013, given Critical severity ratings and Exploitability Index ratings of 1 ("Consistent Exploit Code Likely")."

Bryant also added some guidance for IT administrators. "The Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) blog contains additional deployment guidance and the Microsoft Exploitability Index includes exploitability ratings for all vulnerabilities addressed in this release."

Tyler Reguly offered up some additional guidance for IT administrators to educate end-users. "User awareness is vital. Don't open attachments from people you don't know. Better yet, even if you know the person, but weren't expecting the attachment, don't open it. Call them up and ask them if they meant to send it to you. That 30 second phone call could save you a lot of pain and grief. This is important at every level of computer usage, from small and medium businesses right up to the largest fortune 500 enterprises. It's equally important at home. Know what you're clicking on!"

No matter how you look at it, February is a busy month for security bulletins and now the race is on for organizations of all sizes to apply all necessary patches and updates before the bad guys figure out how to exploit the new array of flaws and vulnerabilities.

Tony Bradley tweets as @Tony_BradleyPCW, and can be contacted at his Facebook page.