PSI 3.0: Auto-Patching for Dummies
Summary: Secunia released a beta of Personal Software Inspector 3.0 that auto-updates third-party programs lacking built-in updaters, and in the reviewer's test it found and automatically began installing fixes for about half the outdated apps it detected. The beta strips out the settings and dashboard of the current version and removes an updated program from the update panel with no record of what changed, while leaving insecure apps such as iTunes, PHP and Skype to manual updates.
Key Takeaway: Commenters report the auto-updater assumes default install paths and runs installers with default settings, with one saying it partially replaced a running Firefox 9 with Firefox 3.6 and another saying it took two hours to restore a PC after the beta backleveled Firefox, 7zip and other programs. For anyone weighing automated patching to close third-party software gaps, that is the trade: coverage for the non-technical majority against silent, unlogged changes to machines you are responsible for.
Read the original at Krebs on Security ↗
- Topics
- Vulnerabilities & Patching
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