Dennis Kennedy

I doubt it. Why take precautions when you can learn the hard way, right?

Mary Jo Foley's must-read Microsoft Watch posted an alert called "Will Forthcoming Exploits Target New Windows Holes?"

The alert points to a warning from the Internet Storm Center at The SANS Institute suggesting that combination attacks on the critical Windows vulnerabilities announced last week may already be starting to occur.

If so, the lag time between availability of security patches and first exploits has dropped to less than seven days. This is scary business.

As I've pointed out before, law firms have been ravaged by well-known exploits of known Windows vulnerabilities for which patches were available. Warnings about "super exploits" suggest that a high degree of concern is justified. Failing to install updates puts both yourself and the entire Internet community at unnecessary risk.

Hey, let's be careful out there, for once.