microsoft

Release Notes for 40th Anniversary Edition/SIM Update 11

Posted on by VA3DBJ

Today we celebrate the exciting history of aviation with the release of the Microsoft Flight Simulator 40th Anniversary Edition, the most advanced version of this beloved franchise yet. Among the many features included in this update is a true-to-life airliner, the Airbus A310-300, rendered with stunning accuracy.

The 40th Anniversary Edition also features, for the first time since the platform’s 2006 release, helicopters and gliders that perform with amazing life-like realism. We’re also introducing seven renowned historical aircraft: the 1903 Wright Flyer, the 1915 Curtiss JN-4 Jenny, the 1927 Ryan NYP Spirit of St. Louis, the 1935 Douglas DC-3, the beautiful 1937 Grumman G-21 Goose, the 1947 Havilland DHC-2 Beaver, and the famous 1947 Hughes H-4 Hercules “Spruce Goose,” the largest seaplane and wooden aircraft ever built.

We have also added four classic airports, including the Meigs Field in Chicago, a traditional home airport for the Microsoft Flight Simulator franchise.

It is an incredibly exciting update celebrating aviation history, introducing significant technical advancements in flight dynamics and simulation and featuring two new types of aircraft (gliders and helicopters) – all to delight our community and showcase the beauty and the thrill of flight!

In summary, the Microsoft Flight Simulator 40th Anniversary Edition delivers the following brand-new content:

  • 1 true-to-life Airbus A310 airliner
  • 2 helicopters and 14 heliports
  • 2 gliders and 15 glider airports
  • 7 famous historical aircraft including the Hughes H-4 Hercules (also known as the Spruce Goose)
  • 4 classic commercial airports
  • 24 classic missions from the franchise’s past

Test your piloting skills against the challenges of riding thermals in an unpowered glider, controlling rotor-wing aircraft over dense urban cityscapes, improved real-time atmospheric simulation and live weather in a dynamic and vibrant world. Create your flight plan to anywhere on the planet. Join us in celebrating the award-winning franchise with the Microsoft Flight Simulator 40th Anniversary Edition, loaded with all-new features, aircraft and content that span the history of aviation. The sky is calling!

Check out the Microsoft Flight Simulator 40th Anniversary Edition today, available as a free update for existing players. For new simmers, the 40th Anniversary Edition is the perfect entry point to the franchise.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 40th Anniversary Edition is available for Xbox Series X|S and PC with Xbox Game Pass, PC Game Pass, Windows, and Steam, and on Xbox One and supported mobile phones, tablets, and lower-spec PCs via Xbox Cloud Gaming.

For more information, click here.

Detecting Post-Compromise Threat Activity in Microsoft Cloud Environments

Posted on by VA3DBJ

Alert (AA21-008A) – This Alert is a companion alert to AA20-352A: Advanced Persistent Threat Compromise of Government Agencies, Critical Infrastructure, and Private Sector Organizations. AA20-352A primarily focuses on an advanced persistent threat (APT) actor’s compromise of SolarWinds Orion products as an initial access vector into networks of U.S. Government agencies, critical infrastructure entities, and private network organizations. As noted in AA20-352A, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has evidence of initial access vectors in addition to the compromised SolarWinds Orion products.

This Alert also addresses activity—irrespective of the initial access vector leveraged—that CISA attributes to an APT actor. Specifically, CISA has seen an APT actor using compromised applications in a victim’s Microsoft 365 (M365)/Azure environment. CISA has also seen this APT actor utilizing additional credentials and Application Programming Interface (API) access to cloud resources of private and public sector organizations. These tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) feature three key components:

  • Compromising or bypassing federated identity solutions;
  • Using forged authentication tokens to move laterally to Microsoft cloud environments; and
  • Using privileged access to a victim’s cloud environment to establish difficult-to-detect persistence mechanisms for Application Programming Interface (API)-based access.

This Alert describes these TTPs and offers an overview of, and guidance on, available open-source tools—including a CISA-developed tool, Sparrow—for network defenders to analyze their Microsoft Azure Active Directory (AD), Office 365 (O365), and M365 environments to detect potentially malicious activity.

Note: this Alert describes artifacts—presented by these attacks—from which CISA has identified detectable evidence of the threat actor’s initial objectives. CISA continues to analyze the threat actor’s follow-on objectives.

For more information, please click here.

Microsoft and NSA say a security bug affects millions of Windows 10 computers

Posted on by VA3DBJ

by Zack Whittaker – Tech Crunch

Microsoft  has released a security patch for a dangerous vulnerability affecting hundreds of millions of computers running Windows 10.

The vulnerability is found in a decades-old Windows cryptographic component, known as CryptoAPI. The component has a range of functions, one of which allows developers to digitally sign their software, proving that the software has not been tampered with. But the bug may allow attackers to spoof legitimate software, potentially making it easier to run malicious software — like ransomware — on a vulnerable computer.

“The user would have no way of knowing the file was malicious, because the digital signature would appear to be from a trusted provider,” Microsoft said.

CERT-CC, the the vulnerability disclosure center at Carnegie Mellon University, said in its advisory that the bug can also be used to intercept and modify HTTPS (or TLS) communications.

Microsoft said it found no evidence to show that the bug has been actively exploited by attackers, and classified the bug as “important.”

Independent security journalist Brian Krebs first reported details of the bug.

The National Security Agency confirmed in a call with reporters that it found the vulnerability and turned over the details to Microsoft, allowing the company to build and ready a fix.

Only two years ago the spy agency was criticized for finding and using a Windows vulnerability to conduct surveillance instead of alerting Microsoft to the flaw. The agency used the vulnerability to create an exploit, known as EternalBlue, as a way to secretly backdoor vulnerable computers. But the exploit was later leaked and was used to infect thousands of computers with the WannaCry ransomware, causing millions of dollars’ worth of damage.

Anne Neuberger, NSA’s  director of cybersecurity, told TechCrunch that once the vulnerability was discovered, it went through the vulnerabilities equities process, a decision-making process used by the government to determine if it should retain control of the flaw for use in offensive security operations or if it should be disclosed to the vendor. It’s not known if the NSA used the bug for offensive operations before it was reported to Microsoft.

“It’s encouraging to see such a critical vulnerability turned over to vendors rather than weaponized.”

Neuberger confirmed Microsoft’s findings that NSA had not seen attackers actively exploiting the bug.

Jake Williams, a former NSA hacker and founder of Rendition Infosec, told TechCrunch that it was “encouraging” that the flaw was turned over “rather than weaponized.”

“This one is a bug that would likely be easier for governments to use than the common hacker,” he said. “This would have been an ideal exploit to couple with man in the middle network access.”

Microsoft is said to have released patches for Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016, which is also affected, to the U.S. government, military and other high-profile companies ahead of Tuesday’s release to the wider public, amid fears that the bug would be abused and vulnerable computers could come under active attack.

The software giant kept a tight circle around the details of the vulnerabilities, with few at the company fully aware of their existence, sources told TechCrunch. Only a few outside the company and the NSA — such as the government’s cybersecurity advisory unit Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency — were briefed.

CISA also issued a directive, compelling federal agencies to patch the vulnerabilities.

Williams said this now-patched flaw is like “a skeleton key for bypassing any number of endpoint security controls,” he told TechCrunch.

Skilled attackers have long tried to pass off their malware as legitimate software, in some cases by obtaining and stealing certificates. Last year, attackers stole a certificate belonging to computer maker Asus to sign a backdoored version of its software update tool. By pushing the tool to the company’s own servers, “hundreds of thousands” of Asus customers were compromised as a result.

When certificates are lost or stolen, they can be used to impersonate the app maker, allowing them to sign malicious software and make it look like it came from the original developer.

Dmitri Alperovitch, co-founder and chief technology officer at security firm CrowdStrike, said in a tweet that the NSA-discovered bug was a “critical issue.”

“Everyone should patch. Do not wait,” he said.