Microsoft Preps the Backend for Windows Update for Business

The rogue patch, which advertised itself as a Windows Language Pack, was said to be 4.3MB in size and was flagged as an “Important” update.

With new business features planned for Windows 10 next month in the next major update, Microsoft is preparing the way for businesses to support them.

The weird name and “More information” and “Help and support” site links are, understandably, what have caused alarm bells to start ringing.

A spokesperson said that the company had “incorrectly published a test update” and is in the process of removing it.

“Clearly there’s something that’s delivered into the [Windows Update] queue that’s trusted”, Kenneth White, a Washington DC-based security researcher, told Ars after contacting a few of the Windows users who received the suspicious update. Indeed, this patch appeared so unusual that many assumed that Windows Update must have been hacked.

The patch is thought to have been pushed through consumer machines running Windows 7.

In most cases, the patch failed to install. “Basically whatever it was killed my system and compromised my gear so I wouldn’t want to look up anything sensitive to personal data on your machine”.

The update only seems to have popped up on Windows 7 systems, including Windows 7 Pro and Windows 7 Enterprise.

We’ll have more as it lands.