Tag: security program

Windows 7 RTM Patches ISO Image

October 15, 2009 by Jason

It has by no means been a slow month as far as Microsoft security bulletins go, with no less than 13 patch packages being released by the company for a range of products. In total, the Redmond company patched no less than 34 security holes across Windows, Internet Explorer, Silverlight, Microsoft Office, Developer Tools, Forefront and SQL Server, revealed Christopher Budd, security response communications lead, Microsoft. October 2009 is also the first month in the software giant’s security patch cycle when updates were made available for the gold version of Windows 7. October 2009 marks yet another first, namely the first time that patches for Windows 7 RTM have been included into a company Security Release ISO Image.

At the bottom of this article you’ll be able to find a download link for the October 2009 Security Release ISO Image. The ISO package brings to the table all of the security updates made available for supported Windows operating systems, including Windows 7, Vista, Windows XP, Windows Server 2008 R2, etc. Read More»

64-bit Vista Natively Bulletproofed Against Heap-Based Buffer Overruns

February 21, 2008 by Jason

When it comes down to the 32-bit Windows Vista vs. 64-bit Windows Vista, the comparison generally focuses on the added benefits synonymous with handling system memory. Because the address space of 64-bit Vista is not limited to 4GB, users are able to use a maximum of 128 GB of RAM with the Ultimate, Business and Enterprise SKUS. But at the same time, there are added benefits, and one of them is in terms of security. The 64-bit editions of Vista come to the table with PatchGuard (Kernel Patch Protection), Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR), Heap and Stack randomization, and even heap corruption detection.

As far as Heap Based Buffer Overruns are concerned, both 32-bit and 64-bit Vista offer protection, but only in the x64 versions of the operating system is the even heap corruption detection enabled by default. Michael Howard, Senior Security Program Manager in the Security Engineering group at Microsoft, explained that, in x86 Vista, software developers have to call the HeapSetInformation API in order to enable heal corruption detection. Read More»