And users can no longer log in with… Internet Explorer

Oct 26, 2019 07:07 GMT  ·  By

The Australian Border Force says in an announcement posted on its website that a bad Windows 10 update broke down one of its systems, making it impossible for clients to log in.

The officials claim that after installing the October 8 security updates for Windows 10, connecting to the Integrated Cargo System (ICS) is no longer possible if Internet Explorer is used.

At first glance, this doesn’t sound like a huge problem because who uses Internet Explorer these days anyway, right? Right. But as per The Register, the Australian Border Force, or ABF, only supports Internet Explorer, so clients have no other option than sticking with this ancient app that not even Microsoft recommends using these days.

Don’t remove the update on your own”

ABF says it has already reached out to Microsoft to resolve the interoperability problems between Windows 10 and ICS.

“Our technical teams are working with Microsoft at the highest priority to understand and resolve the root cause of the issue and to develop an appropriate solution. A change in behaviour of the protocol establishing the security of the connection with ICS is causing authentication failures,” the announcement reads.

Going forward, ABF notes that while some users decided to take the matter into their own hands and uninstall the October 8 updates completely to restore the normal behavior of the system, you should do this only if you are “informed by an appropriate risk assessment and analysis.”

“Additional security controls to limit any risk associated with the removal of the patch such as the use of standalone machines should be considered,” ABF says.

ABF does not mention the update that caused the login problems on their systems, but the October 8 cumulative updates released by Microsoft for Windows 10 represent the October Patch Tuesday fixes and include even improvements for the security of Internet Explorer.

Microsoft is yet to acknowledge any issue hitting Internet Explorer in the October 8 cumulative updates for Windows 10.