Download Windows Security Release ISO Image for February 2011

Earlier this week Microsoft released the February 2011 security bulletins patching vulnerabilities in Windows, Office, Internet Explorer, and IIS (Internet Information Services). No less than 12 patch packages were offered on February 8th, 2011, and the Redmond company also made available the traditional Security Release ISO Image, providing an easier way for IT professionals that don’t use WSUS to deploy this month’s Windows security updates.

As per usual, the February 2011 Security Release ISO Image contains only the security bulletins that impact the Windows platforms and not Office or IIS.

This is why, out of the 12 security bulletins designed to patch 22 vulnerabilities, the February 2011 Security Release ISO Image brings to the table only 11 bulletins patching 20 security flaws.

There are two downloads associated with the February 2011 Security Release ISO Image namely Windows-KB913086-201102-1.iso (1149.5MB) and Windows-KB913086-201102-2.iso (2694.2MB).

Obviously, because the sheer size of these packages, IT administrators are advised to plan ahead to download the ISO image.

Since February 8th, 2010, Microsoft has also held the Security Bulletin Webcast for this month’s update release, which is available for viewing here.

“We published the February Security Bulletin Webcast Questions & Answers page. We fielded 12 questions on various topics during the webcast, including bulletins released, deployment tools, and update detection tools,” revealed Jerry Bryant, Group Manager, Response Communications and Trustworthy Computing Group.

There are three security bulletins that admins will need to prioritize in terms of deployment, according to Microsoft: MS11-003, MS11-006, MS11-007.

- MS11-003 addresses four vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer; it has a maximum severity rating of Critical and an Exploitability Index rating of 1.

- MS11-006 addresses one vulnerability in Windows; it has a maximum severity rating of Critical and an Exploitability Index rating of 1.

- MS11-007 addresses one vulnerability in Windows; it has a maximum severity rating of Critical and an Exploitability Index rating of 2.

February 2011 Security Release ISO Image is available for download here.