You may remember only a few weeks ago a serious virus, known as MS Blaster among other things, that wreaked havoc on computer networks around the world. This virus, most easily identifiable because of its trade-mark 60 second restart feature, was more dangerous than your average threat because it could seek you out and attack you without you doing anything.

Blaster was able to do this by taking advantage of a vulnerability - a security hole - that allowed it to break in and take control of your machine.

The bad news is that another such vulnerability (in fact three of them) has been found, and chances are you are at risk.

The good news is that there are no known exploits, or viruses, taking advantage of this vulnerability - yet.

We strongly recommend that ALL CLIENTS running the following versions of Windows IMMEDIATELY take steps to patch their systems.
Microsoft Windows NT 4.0
Microsoft Windows 2000
Microsoft Windows XP
Microsoft Windows Server 2003

The easiest way to patch your system is to go to www.WindowsUpdate.com. If you are unsure about this, please talk to your network administrator. If you don't have a network administrator, go to www.windowsupdate.com and follow the instructions.

Alternatively, you can download the patches directly (choose the one that relates to your operating system):

• Windows NT Workstation 4.0
• Windows NT Server 4.0
• Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition
• Windows 2000
• Windows XP
• Windows XP 64 bit Edition
• Windows XP 64 bit Edition Version 2003
• Windows Server 2003
• Windows Server 2003 64 bit Edition

The critical nature of this matter can not be under-stated. Microsoft have taken unprecedented steps to make their partners and the computing community aware of this threat, and given its public nature, it is only a matter of time until a worm is created that exploits this weakness - make sure you don't get caught by getting up to date.