Out-of-Band Release to Address Microsoft Security Advisory 2963983

At approximately 10 a.m. PDT, we will release an out-of-band security update to address the issue affecting Internet Explorer (IE) that was first discussed in Security Advisory 2963983. This update is fully tested and ready for release for all affected versions of the browser.

The majority of customers have automatic updates enabled and will not need to take any action because protections will be downloaded and installed automatically. If you’re unsure if you have automatic updates, or you haven’t enabled Automatic Update, now is the time.

For those manually updating, we strongly encourage you to apply this update as quickly as possible following the directions in the released security bulletin.

We have made the decision to issue a security update for Windows XP users. Windows XP is no longer supported by Microsoft, and we continue to encourage customers to migrate to a modern operating system, such as Windows 7 or 8.1. Additionally, customers are encouraged to upgrade to the latest version of Internet Explorer, IE 11.

Please join us tomorrow at 11 a.m. PDT for a webcast where we will present information on the bulletin.

Registration information:

Date: Friday, May 2, 2014
Time: 11:00 a.m. PDT
Registration: https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/InviteOnly.aspx?EventID=7F-7C-CD-0D-1D-9F-4D-AC-46-22-BC-40-40-E8-D9-93

More information about the upcoming security bulletin can be found at Microsoft’s Advance Notification Service (ANS) webpage.You can also stay apprised of the MSRC team’s recent activities by following us on Twitter at @MSFTSecResponse.

Thank you,
Dustin Childs
Group Manager, Response Communications
Microsoft Trustworthy Computing