14 DAY TRIAL // With the March software update (NoDo) on almost all Windows Phone 7 devices out there, Microsoft has just started the delivery of a new update for its users, one meant to fix a series of security issues that emerged only recently.
The new update was already known to be on its way to Windows Phone 7 devices, and now the company announced that it started its delivery, and that, as soon as users would install it, the OS version on their devices would become 7.0.7392.0.
In a recent blog post, Eric Hautala, GM, Customer Experience Engineering, Microsoft, explains that the update started being delivered to some users tied to the March update (NoDo), while others would receive it either as a standalone update or as part of a future update.
Owners of Windows Phones at Deutsche Telekom and Optus would receive the update along with NoDo, he notes.
Microsoft provided the following release notes for the new update:
Fix for fraudulent third-party digital certificates. This update includes a critical fix to an industry-wide issue with nine untrusted digital certificates that were issued by one root certificate authority. These third-party digital certificates are used to access popular websites and email portals.
Although this is not a Microsoft security vulnerability, these untrusted certificates may be used to spoof content, perform phishing attacks, or perform man-in-the-middle attacks against all web browser users.
This update moves the affected certificates to the "Untrusted Publishers" certificate store on Windows Phone, which helps ensure that these fraudulent certificates are not inadvertently used.
However, some suggest that the Redmond-based software giant might have included other enhancements into the mix as well, although the company did not include them in the release notes.
You can read more on what else was included in the update on this blog post from developer Chris Walsh. Other info on the update can be found on Microsoft's website here.