Microsoft Set Records for Bug Fixes in 2008
Microsoft Corp. was forced to pick up the patching pace in the second half of 2008, the company admitted last week, as it fixed 67 percent more flaws and released 17% more security updates in the period than it had in the first six months of the year.
Included in the bugs patched during the latter months of the year was the vulnerability exploited by Conficker, a worm that led to the biggest infection outbreak in years and a minor media frenzy last week.
Microsoft patched 97 different vulnerabilities in 42 separate security update in the second half of 2008, compared to 58 vulnerabilities in 36 updates in the first half. Vinnie Gullotto, the general manager of the Microsoft Malware Protection Center, acknowledged the increase. "The number [of patched vulnerabilities] did go up, but a lot has to do with our methodology."
