Issued: January 05, 2006
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Summary
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Important Information for Thursday 5 January 2006
Microsoft announced that it would release a security update to help
protect customers from exploitations of a vulnerability in the
Windows Meta File (WMF) area of code in the Windows operating system
on Tuesday, January 2, 2006, in response to malicious and criminal
attacks on computer users that were discovered last week.
Microsoft will release the update today on Thursday, January 5, 2006,
earlier than planned.
Microsoft originally planned to release the update on Tuesday,
January 10, 2006 as part of its regular monthly release of security
bulletins, once testing for quality and application compatibility
was complete. However, testing has been completed earlier than
anticipated and the update is ready for release.
In addition, Microsoft is releasing the update early in response to
strong customer sentiment that the release should be made available
as soon as possible.
Microsoft's monitoring of attack data continues to indicate that the
attacks are limited and are being mitigated both by Microsoft's
efforts to shut down malicious Web sites and with up-to-date
signatures form anti-virus companies.
The security update will be available at 2:00 pm PT as MS06-001.
Enterprise customers who are using Windows Server Update Services
will receive the update automatically. In additional the update is
supported Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer 2.0, Systems
Management Server, and Software Update Services. Enterprise
customers can also manually download the update from the Download
Center.
Microsoft will hold a special Web cast on Friday, January 6, 2006,
to provide technical details on the MS06-001 and to answer questions.
Registration details will be available at
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/default.mspx.
Microsoft will also be releasing additional security updates on
Tuesday, January 10, 2006 as part of its regularly scheduled release
of security updates.
More Info: MS Security Notification»
