Patch Tuesday February 2019: all the security news you need this month for your small business.
Hot Flash and Adobe Agony
As usual there is a security update for Adobe Flash. But the real excitement is the boatload of critical and important security fixes for Adobe Reader and Acrobat for both Windows and Mac. More details from Adobe here.
Adobe Creative Cloud users need to update the Creative Cloud desktop application as soon as possible.
Update February 21st: It’s deja vu all over again. The patches for Adobe Reader and Acrobat released on the 12th created more security problems. Adobe released new patches for Reader and Acrobat on the 21st.
Apple Crumbles
Apple released a supplemental update for Mac Mojave last week and an important security update January 22nd for Mojave, Sierra and High Sierra versions.
Your iPhone and other iThingys need to be updated to iOS version 12.1.4 which was released February 7th. This version fixes the Facetime security problem where someone calling you on Facetime can hear any sound around your phone. More details about this update here.
There’s also an update for iTunes, should be now running version 12.9.3. The Windows version of iCloud also needs an update.
More details on all the latest Apple updates can be found at https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT201222 .
Microsoft Updates
Microsoft patched 77 bugs on Tuesday (February 12th 2019). Yes, that’s a lot even for Microsoft and all their products.
Most important for business, 7 of the bugs patched affect Office products. If you’re running Office 365, expect some odd Office events until you run the updates.
Also high on the list are the bug fixes for the Edge browser and Internet Explorer. Mainly because Microsoft inflicts Edge on you as the default browser.
Microsoft also patched the Windows Jet Database Engine and a few other Windows features. Details on the updates here.
Firm Up Your Firmware
HP, Brother, Epson, Canon and all the other printer manufacturers release firmware updates for their printers on occasion. If you get a message from your printer software that you need to run a firmware update, say yes.
Network printers, that includes WiFi connected printers, run a web server. That can be hacked. You need to run the firmware updates.
Patch Tuesday February 2019
Schedule some time this month to patch your devices. An ounce of patching is cheaper than a pound of hacking.
