Get ready for some big security updates coming next Tuesday, August 10 which is affectionately known as Patch Tuesday. This is when Microsoft plans on fixing a number of security vulnerabilities that exist within various software packages that they offer.
In all, Microsoft plans to fix 34 vulnerabilities through 14 patches. Of these, 8 are deemed critical meaning that if they were not fixed, there is a chance for a hacker to exploit a software bug to remotely execute malicious code on a remote computer without the user ever knowing about it. The remaining updates are referred to as important and are for the Windows OS and Office suite of products.
Microsoft has never in its history released 14 patches on a single patch Tuesday, making August 10th, somewhat of a non celebratory record. Up until now, the most patches ever released on one Tuesday was 13 bulletins and this has been done a couple of times according to Angela Gunn from the Microsoft Security Response Center. Like past security updates, these should auto-download and a mandatory reboot will need to be completed at some point in order to activate them.
