In the aftermath of Blaster.D and Sobig.F, Microsoft issued a "Critical Security Bulletin" on September 3, 2003, for users of its Office applications and users of Visual Basic for Applications. Visual Basic (VB) is used to develop applications for Windows and Office.

The problem in the software holds the potential for a knowledgeable programmer to create documents that could take control of the customer's machinery. At this writing, it's not clear if this flaw is related to earlier flaws in Microsoft's VB macro environments. What is clear is that Microsoft is taking seriously the threat that such a flaw could pose. Customers who do not apply these patches stand to have their machines hijacked and/or their personal data and other information stolen from their disk drives.

Microsoft Getting Serious About Security?

According to Microsoft, the products that are affected include the following:

• Visual Basic for Applications SDK 5.0, 6.0, 6.2, and 6.3
• Office 97, 2000, and XP
• Word 98 (J)
• Visio 2000 and 2002
• Project 2000 and 2002
• Publisher 2002
• Works Suite 2001, 2002, and 2003
• Business Solutions Great Plains 7.5
• Business Solutions Dynamics 6.0 and 7.0
• Business Solutions eEnterprise 6.0 and 7.0
• Business Solutions Solomon 4.5, 5.0, and 5.5

Microsoft has created a separate security bulletin (MS03-037) to help customers understand their exposure. The severity level for this bulletin is as high as Microsoft can categorize it: Critical.

To read this bulletin, customers can go to Microsoft's Security & Privacy Web page and click Security Bulletins.

Installing Patches to Prevent Catastrophe--Again

Microsoft offers a relatively automated means of installing a patch for this security hole, but plan on taking quite a bit of time out of your daily tasks to get it done. The first step is to have Microsoft scan your computer to determine which of the above products are on your machine. You must download a small application to allow Microsoft to do this, if you have not already done so in the past, and this application resides only at Microsoft's site.

The scanning application then determines what Office products are installed on your machine and what level of security patches have been previously installed. If you or one of your users has been recalcitrant about installing Microsoft security patches in the past, you'll have quite a task awaiting you. And even if you've been religiously keeping your machine in sync with Microsoft's security site, you'll still be spending more time than you'd like.

Time and Time Again

For instance, on September 1, my personal machine cleared Microsoft's Office security scan with only two nonessential patches. On September 3, in response to the security alert, Microsoft's scan saw 12 new patches that it needed to install, including Office Service Packs 1 (which had been released in October 2001 and which I had previously installed) and 2 (which I had also previously installed). Each of these service packs required a reboot. At this time, it's not clear whether Microsoft's scan is flawed or whether there is a new need to reapply the various service packs.

Total time to apply these patches was about an hour.

If You Holler "Wolf," Will They Still Come?

Clearly, Microsoft is taking its responsibilities for security a bit more seriously than in the recent past. However, considering the level of the security flaw and the level of dedicated time required to fix the problem, requiring unskilled customers to do the installation will undoubtedly create one more support nightmare for both IT and Microsoft's customer support lines.

What's worse is that a lot of home customers will never see the security bulletin and never attempt to remedy their versions of Office.

We applaud Microsoft for taking a proactive stance, as we have in all its past security notices. But there is ample room for improving the delivery of these patches--patches that require dedicated time, ample Internet bandwidth, and a substantial interruption in the daily work-lives of its customers.

Thomas M. Stockwell is Editor in Chief of MC Press. He may be reached for comment at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Thomas M. Stockwell is an independent IT analyst and writer. He is the former Editor in Chief of MC Press Online and Midrange Computing magazine and has over 20 years of experience as a programmer, systems engineer, IT director, industry analyst, author, speaker, consultant, and editor.  

 

Tom works from his home in the Napa Valley in California. He can be reached at ITincendiary.com.