14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has just issued a brand new security update aimed at resolving a flaw in Internet Explorer discovered last week and said to affect all Windows versions, including Windows XP.
The company said in an updated statement this morning that the new patch is automatically being delivered via Windows Update to all machines running any of the affected Internet Explorer versions, so make sure that you install the available fix to stay on the safe side.
“This update is fully tested and ready for release for all affected versions of the browser. The majority of customers have automatic updates enabled and will not need to take any action because protections will be downloaded and installed automatically. If you’re unsure if you have automatic updates, or you haven’t enabled Automatic Update, now is the time,” Microsoft said in the advisory today.
“For those manually updating, we strongly encourage you to apply this update as quickly as possible following the directions in the released security bulletin.”
An important thing is that Windows XP also received the patch, although this particular operating system has already reached end of support on April 8.
Microsoft previously said that without fixes, Windows XP could easily be hijacked if someone finds sand unpatched vulnerability in the operating system, but the company has now decided to fix this zero-day flaw to make sure that millions of consumers still running this OS version are protected.
“We have made the decision to issue a security update for Windows XP users. Windows XP is no longer supported by Microsoft, and we continue to encourage customers to migrate to a modern operating system, such as Windows 7 or 8.1. Additionally, customers are encouraged to upgrade to the latest version of Internet Explorer, IE 11,” the company added.
Microsoft previously explained that this Internet Explorer zero-day flaw would require an attacker to get the user on a malicious website hosting malware supposed to exploit the flaw and thus allow him to get the same privileges as the logged-in user.
Until now, the majority of security vendors out there urged Windows XP consumers to replace Internet Explorer with a browser that still receives support from their parent companies, such as Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. Microsoft, however, has moved very fast this time to address the flaw, so in case you're still on Windows XP, make sure that you deploy this new fix as soon as possible.