Microsoft releases Patch of six security updates next week

 Microsoft announced the release of Patch next week which will consist of six bulletins that address a total of 15 vulnerabilities in its Windows and Office products. Microsoft’s Security Bulletin Advance Notification for November says that four of the bulletins affect vulnerabilities in Windows and three of them have the highest - 'critical ' - level of Microsoft's four-level threat rating system. The two other bulletins address Microsoft Office and have the second highest - ‘important’ - threat level. Microsoft specifies that one of the Office-addressed bulletins is for vulnerabilities in Microsoft's Office For Mac product, and the other one affects vulnerabilities in Excel and Word.

It is notable that last month’s record release fixed 34 vulnerabilities in 13 updates, 8 of which had ‘critical’ rate. These included fixes for two zero-day vulnerabilities in the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol and FTP Service, which prevented hackers from launching attacks on users' PCs. The patch released in October also included a cumulative fix for Internet Explorer, which blocked four security holes that could allow rascals to lure victims to a maliciously crafted Web site. Usually this is achieved through social engineering by getting unsuspecting users to click on an email link.