This week, Microsoft launched an unprecedented number of security updates for its products, including Windows and Office, attributing the surge to advancements in artificial intelligence that aid in identifying code vulnerabilities.
As part of its regular monthly maintenance, referred to as “Patch Tuesday,” the tech giant released fixes for 570 security issues on Tuesday.
Among these vulnerabilities are at least two categorized as zero-days, which were actively exploited by hackers before Microsoft had knowledge of their existence. One vulnerability impacts Windows Server, allowing cybercriminals to elevate their access from a regular user to a system administrator. Another pertains to the SharePoint file-sharing system, with the U.S. government’s cybersecurity agency, CISA, alerting organizations that this flaw is currently being exploited by hackers.
The news was initially reported by Krebs on Security.
This significant patch rollout follows Microsoft’s recent announcement in a blog post that it anticipated a much larger count of monthly security fixes going forward. The company explained that its use of AI technology has helped its team identify security exploits that were previously overlooked.
“As AI enables security professionals to detect more vulnerabilities, customers can expect an increased number of updates in each security release,” said Microsoft’s Windows lead, Pavan Davuluri.
With the evolution of AI models centered around cybersecurity, researchers are harnessing these tools to discover long-hidden weaknesses in the software, some of which may have lain undetected for years. Notably, some sections of the Windows code stretch back several decades.
