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<div style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;" class="">In this issue:</div>
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<div style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;" class="">1. Microsoft Security Updates for April 2015</div>
<div style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;" class="">2. Adobe and Oracle Release Critical Updates</div>
<div style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;" class="">3. The Simda Botnet</div>
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<div style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;" class="">1. Microsoft Security Updates for April 2015</div>
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<div style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;" class="">On Patch Tuesday this week, Microsoft released eleven
<a href="https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/security/ms15-apr.aspx" class="">
security bulletins</a> (MS15-032 through MS15-042). Four bulletins are labeled as critical and the remaining seven as important.</div>
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<div style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;" class="">Systems affected include Windows client and server operating systems as well as various Office products and Internet Explorer. One of the bulletins, MS15-033, addresses a zero-day vulnerability in Microsoft
Office which is currently under limited attacks on Word 2010. The bulletin also fixes two critical RCE (remote code execution) flaws that could be exploited in Office 2007 and 2010 if a user looks at an email in the Outlook preview pane. </div>
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<div style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;" class="">Be sure to accept the updates as they occur, or go to the
<a href="http://www.update.microsoft.com/" class="">Windows Update</a> site. You may need to restart your machine after installing patches.</div>
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<div style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;" class=""><a href="http://www.networkworld.com/article/2909627/microsoft-subnet/patch-tuesday-april-2015-closes-0-day-holes-4-of-11-patches-rated-critical-by-microsoft.html" class="">Read the story in the news</a>.</div>
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<div style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;" class="">2. Adobe and Oracle Release Critical Updates</div>
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<div style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;" class="">Adobe <a href="https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/flash-player/apsb15-06.html" class="">
released a fix</a> for a zero-day bug in Adobe Flash Player for Windows and Mac. Users should update to Adobe Flash Player 17.0.0.169. If you are unsure whether your browser has Flash installed or what version it may be running, go to
<a href="https://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/" class="">Adobe’s Flash Player page</a>. Internet Explorer on Windows 8 and Chrome should automatically update.</div>
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<div style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;" class="">Oracle’s quarterly critical patch update plugs 15 security holes in Java 8. If you have Java installed and use it for specific websites or applications, update as soon as possible. Windows users can
check for the program in the Add/Remove Programs listing or visit <a href="http://www.java.com/en/" class="">
Java.com</a> and click the “Do I have Java?” link on the home page. Note that Oracle will be ending support for Java 7 after this update of Java 8 (Update 45).</div>
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<div style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;" class=""><a href="http://krebsonsecurity.com/2015/04/critical-updates-for-windows-flash-java/" class="">Read the full story at Krebs on Security.</a></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;" class="">3. The Simda Botnet</div>
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<div style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;" class="">The Simda botnet (a botnet is a network of computers infected with self-propagating malware) has compromised more than 770,000 computers worldwide in the past six months. The botnet has recently been
taken down by law enforcement groups and private security companies by seizing 14 command-and-control servers located in various countries, including the US.</div>
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<div style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;" class="">Simda malware takes advantage of Windows computers with unpatched software to re-route a user’s Internet traffic to websites under control by the criminals. The infected computers can also be used to
install additional malware, give criminals access to harvest user credentials, or cause other malware attacks.</div>
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<div style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;" class="">Read a full report on this threat in the alert released by the DHS and FBI:
<a href="https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/alerts/TA15-105A" class="">TA15-105A</a>, which includes the recommended actions users can take:</div>
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<li style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;" class="">Use and maintaining anti-virus software
</li><li style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;" class="">Change your passwords </li><li style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;" class="">Keep your operating system and software up to date
</li><li style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;" class="">Do a manual check of your system (or ask for assistance to do so) to see if it is infected. <span style="font-family: Arial;" class="">Microsoft has developed a free cleaning agent for Simda. If you
have been infected by Simda.AT, run a comprehensive scan of your environment using </span><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/en-hk/default.aspx" style="font-family: Arial;" class="">Microsoft Safety Scanner</a><span style="font-family: Arial;" class="">,
</span><a href="http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/security-essentials-download" style="font-family: Arial;" class="">Microsoft Security Essentials</a><span style="font-family: Arial;" class=""> or Windows Defender.</span>
</li></ul>
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<div style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;" class="">Read the story in the news
<a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/mmpc/archive/2015/04/12/microsoft-partners-with-interpol-industry-to-disrupt-global-malware-attack-affecting-more-than-770-000-pcs-in-past-six-months-39-simda-at-39-designed-to-divert-internet-traffic-to-disseminate-other-types-of-malware.aspx" class="">
here</a> and <a href="http://arstechnica.com/security/2015/04/botnet-that-enslaved-770000-pcs-worldwide-comes-crashing-down/" class="">
here</a>.</div>
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<div style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;" class="">=======================================================================================</div>
<div style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;" class="">Read all archived Security FYI Newsletter articles and submit comments online at
<a href="http://securityfyi.wordpress.com/" class=""><span style="color: rgb(4, 46, 238);" class="">http://securityfyi.wordpress.com/</span></a>.</div>
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Monique Buchanan<br class="">
Social Communications Specialist<br class="">
Information Systems & Technology (IS&T)<br class="">
Massachusetts Institute of Technology<br class="">
<a href="http://ist.mit.edu" class="">http://ist.mit.edu</a><br class="">
tel: 617.253.2715</div>
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