Microsoft released a new Windows update however, it was a bit suspicious and showed signs of being compromised. The company has since issued a statement saying that it was a test that wasn’t carried out correctly and as a result some computers may have fallen victim.
“‘We incorrectly published a test update and are in the process of removing it,’ a Microsoft spokesperson wrote in an e-mail to Ars. The message included no other information,” according to Arstechnica.
The report claims that the explanation wasn’t given until 12 hours after the update had been dispersed worldwide. The fact that Microsoft has responded to the suspicious update proves that their updating system was not compromised, which comes as a huge sigh of relief for users who assumed the worst.
“Clearly there’s something that’s delivered into the [Windows Update] queue that’s trusted,” said Kenneth White, a Washington DC-based security researcher, who contacted Windows after seeing the unfamiliar update, according to the report.
“For someone to compromise the Windows Update server, that’s a pretty serious vector. I don’t raise the alarm very often but this has just enough characteristics of something pretty serious that I think it’s worth looking at.”
There haven’t been extensive reports of damage to machines however an ArstechnicaΒ reader expressed issues such as his Windows explorer crashing, programs at a halt even in admin mode and his issues are so bad that a system restore couldn’t help him.
“So far, all the accounts viewed by Ars report the update being delivered to computers running Windows 7. That may or may not mean the patch is limited to that version,” according to the report.
For users who aren’t technically savvy this could be very alarming but the fact that Windows is working on the issue is enough to at least give users peace of mind for the time being.
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