| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Ealing Council Web Site Goes Kaput | |
| Posted by: | Chris Bell | |
| Date/Time: | 10/06/09 21:52:00 |
| The 2001 report you mention says that there have been viruses created in laboratories, but none has produced any chain reaction. There are regular conferences between security researchers where there are demonstrations of attacks against usually obscure vulnerabilities, and various organizations including the US government are actively searching for vulnerabilities using various methods including automated testing. Patches are normally created and distributed within a day or two, often within an hour or two, and a complete replacement package is usually distributed ready for installation. My own domestic system repeatedly searches for updates, and even a replacement kernel can be installed without a reboot or even interfering with other users of the same box (it is assumed that there will be multiple users), with the occasional restart of an individual software package that would be almost without being noticed. Microsoft is improving with security patch installation when they get round to it, although known security problems are not always patched in good time, often waiting up to a month until "Patch Tuesday" or something similar. |