I just pointed this out in my last entry, but I felt it deserved its own entry. I once discussed the trade-off inherent in introducing a patch schedule, and I have said it before (one, two, three). The latest patches from Microsoft fix some vulnerabilities that have been actively exploited for the last month.

While a monthly patch schedule helps overworked administrators in general. An on the ball administrator has to rely on additional defenses to prevent exploitation from skilled attackers. Given the general increase in net security and additional testing Microsoft gets to put in to ensure a quality patch. Is network security monitoring the future?

Well then, Bleeding snort has the latest signatures.