Since the release of Windows 10, Microsoft has designated every Tuesday as “Patch Tuesday” and has made it a point to consistently release updates to their software that fixes vulnerabilities. This most recent Patch Tuesday saw a number of other companies getting in on the fun. With the end of the year drawing closer, it seems that the big players in the tech ecosystem would rather start the year with as few security issues as possible, in hopes of stemming the tide of the relentlessly growing number of hacking attempts we saw in 2015.
Whether their efforts will succeed or not remains to be seen, but kudos to the companies that participated for their efforts to close as many security loopholes in the products we all depend on as possible.
On offer in this round of patching were more than 70 security fixes listed as “Critical” by the Microsoft team. These ran the gamut from fixes in the Windows 10 core architecture, to patches and upgrades for the new Edge browser, to closing loopholes in Silverlight. The vast majority of these were fixes focused on loopholes that would allow a remote user to directly control your machine without your knowledge.
Apple’s bug fix offerings on Patch Tuesday tightened security on their popular Safari web browser and closed more than 40 security holes in OSX, while Adobe released a plethora of fixes for their Flash Player browser plugin.
We don’t yet know what the new year will bring, but the biggest names in tech are clearly working hard to make the internet a safer, more secure place in 2016 and that is a very good thing to see.
