Usually businesses like to hit the ground running at the start of a new year. But for the first found of updates this 2014, Microsoft isn’t quite gunning for the gate. This month, Microsoft has released a total of 4 updates for their Patch Tuesday, and all are rated as only Important (Critical is considered, well, more important).
The programs impacted by this patch update include Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, all versions of Microsoft Word, Sharepoint Server, Dynamics, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2.
Users still running Windows XP and Word 2003 are encouraged to install the respective updates for these programs as they work on preparing their migration plans from XP to a newer Windows Operating System. Windows XP and Office 2003 will have their support ended officially on Tuesday, April 8th, 2014.
Additionally, Adobe has released updates for it’s Reader and Acrobat programs, both versions XI and X. These updates are rated as Priority 1, meaning they are either being actively exploited or put users at high risk of exploitation. Adobe recommends all Priority 1 updates be applied within 72 hours of release. Additionally, Flash and Air have both been updated. Users should update their Flash player on Internet Explorer and other browsers as soon as possible.
Plus, January marks the first quarterly update for Oracle, the guys who give us Java (not a drink). Oracle has released 144 total updates for this quarter, most of which impact large corporate products and services. But, the update does include a fix for Java, bringing it to version 7 update 51. Because of the infrequent nature of updates to Java and its limited use on web sites and web services, users are encouraged to remove Java unless they know for certain that is needed for critical operations.
Check below for links to the various update announcements, plus other blogs about this months updates:
Microsoft – http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/security/bulletin/ms14-jan
Adobe – http://helpx.adobe.com/security.html
Oracle – http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/cpujan2014-1972949.html
Krebs on Security – http://krebsonsecurity.com/2014/01/security-updates-for-windows-flash-reader/
TrustWave Spiderlabs – http://blog.spiderlabs.com/2014/01/microsoft-patch-tuesday-january-2014.html
