Hello,

The title pretty much says it all. During the last 24 hours, we have seen security updates for some very popular Windows programs from four major vendors: Sun, Adobe, Apple, and Skype.

Based on these four security updates, we have gathered some statistics from our free Secunia PSI that shows a startling picture, detailing the amount of users who need to patch their computers, in order to safely do something as ordinary as surfing the Internet.

Currently, the Secunia PSI has been installed on 282,726 computers.

Unique installations, counting each application only once per. computer:

Adobe Reader 8.x	172,653	61.07% of all computers affected
Apple Quicktime 7.x	133,169	47.10% of all computers affected
Sun Java 1.5.x	98,618	34.88% of all computers affected
Skype 3.x	57,496	20.34% of all computers affected

Looking at how many computers that have one or more of the above applications installed we get 229,023 out of 282,726 computers, or:
"81.01% of all computers connected to the Internet needs to apply at least one security update to secure their computer, until updated, users risk falling victim of a hacker by simply: Visiting a website, opening a PDF file, viewing a movie, etc. - and this is just over a period of 24 hours"


A little in-depth information about the four security updates
1) Adobe Reader 8.x (PDF Files) (Secunia Advisory: SA28802)
No details have yet been revealed about this mysterious security update, however, Adobe have announced their new version and claims that it corrects a security hole. Given the secrecy surrounding this security update, it is likely that it could be severe.

2) Sun Java 1.5.x (Web content, games, etc.) (Secunia Advisory: SA28795)
This security update corrects a security hole that could lead to a compromise of your computer when surfing a website. Java is used on many websites to provide enhanced content such as games, shops, and other features.

3) Apple Quicktime (Movies, music, etc.) (Secunia Advisory: SA28423)
This security update corrects a security hole that could lead to a compromise of your computer. Apple Quicktime is used when viewing movies and listening to music. It is also delivered together with the popular music service Apple iTunes.

4) Skype (Chat and VOIP) (Secunia Advisory: SA28791)
This is a security update that implements security enhancements that can help protect your computer in certain scenarios when using the popular chat and VOIP client.


About the Secunia PSI
The Secunia PSI is a free solution from Secunia that allows private users to map, update, and secure the programs installed on their computers. As of February 2008, the Secunia PSI has been installed on more than 280,000 computers, the Secunia PSI monitors more than 23 million programs, categorised as either Insecure, End-of-Life, or Patched.

The first version of the Secunia PSI was released in July 2007, it is currently in version 0.9.0.1 (Release Candidate 1).

Join the many Secunia PSI users - download the PSI and secure your computer today. Currently available in English and Danish:
https://psi.secunia.com/


Contact Secunia
Should you have any questions regarding Secunia, this blog, or the services we provide please feel free to contact Secunia support at support@secunia.com

Press inquiries can be directed to Thomas Kristensen, CTO via email media@secunia.com.


Kind regards,

Thomas Kristensen
CTO