Critical Windows Vulnerability

As of December 17th, a new patch for Microsoft windows explorer has been released. This new patch contains very important information for protecting your computer and the data present on your computer. The MS08-078 patch provides crucial security update against remote code execution programs. It is critical that this update is installed onto your computer as fast as possible because this issue has a maximum severity rating.

In order to ensure that you have the patch installed on your system, you should run Windows Updates and install the latest patches on your computer. On your Windows Vista computer, go to the start button and type in the words windows update. If you have Windows XP, start Internet Explorer 7 and choose Windows Update from the Tools pull-down menu.

For more information on the details of the patch, go here.

2009 Pricing Change

In order to better serve our clients, we will be introducing a pricing adjustment on all hourly services provided by Servcom USA to our clients. This rate adjustment will help us to remain competitive and continue to provide you with the most technologically sophisticated IT and networking service package in York County.

Our base rate will be moving to $100 per hour. Non-profit customers will continue to receive a minimum 5% discount off of our base rate for all labor.

Please note that this pricing will go into effect on January 1^st, 2009.

Finally, for all customers who have an existing Service Agreement with us at that time, your rates will not be affected by this rate adjustment.

Monitoring Site Maintenance

In order to provide you with an improved Monitoring platform, we will be performing maintenance on our support website this week. There will be occasional outages from Tuesday through Friday after business hours (6pm EST). Please note that if you have trouble accessing our site between 6pm and 10am during this time, you will need to try again during regular business hours. We apologize for any inconvenience.

CLOSING DATES

Closing Dates for December are as follows:

Wednesday 12/24

Thursday 12/25

Friday 12/26

Wednesday 12/31

Closing dates for January are as follows:

Thursday 01/01

Monday 01/19

Closing dates for February are as follows:

Monday 02/16

CLOSED

ServcomUSA

Will be closed 11/26-11/28 for Thanksgiving Holiday!

Please submit a ticket if you are having technical difficulties.

Critical Windows Vulnerability

If you do not have a service agreement with Servcom USA, you will need to contact our office immediately to schedule the installation of the fix for this Windows vulnerability. Please note that a patch has been released, but it must be installed ASAP. Customers under a current service agreement will be handled automatically. (Contract customers do not have to request installation of this patch.)

For more details on this problem, to see a list of affected operating systems, or for more information, you can see the full Microsoft Security Bulletin here.

Again, this is a VERY serious problem. You need to have this addressed on your servers and workstations IMMEDIATELY.

 

A repost of the Microsoft Security Bulletin released yesterday:

Microsoft Security Bulletin MS08-067 – Critical

Vulnerability in Server Service Could Allow Remote Code Execution (958644)

Published: October 23, 2008

Version: 1.0

General Information

Executive Summary

This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in the Server service. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if an affected system received a specially crafted RPC request. On Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 systems, an attacker could exploit this vulnerability without authentication to run arbitrary code. It is possible that this vulnerability could be used in the crafting of a wormable exploit. Firewall best practices and standard default firewall configurations can help protect network resources from attacks that originate outside the enterprise perimeter.

This security update is rated Critical for all supported editions of Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and rated Important for all supported editions of Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. For more information, see the subsection, Affected and Non-Affected Software, in this section.

The security update addresses the vulnerability by correcting the way that the Server service handles RPC requests. For more information about the vulnerability, see the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) subsection for the specific vulnerability entry under the next section, Vulnerability Information.

Recommendation. Microsoft recommends that customers apply the update immediately.

 

 

Business Trip

Adam and I will be out of town from September 23^rd through Monday, October 5^th. Servcom USA will remain open during regular business hours.