For one day a month, there’s one topic and one topic only that IT security professionals and IT staffers seem to be talking about: Patch Tuesday.

That, of course, is the time (early afternoon of the second Tuesday of the month here on the East Coast) when Microsoft releases its security bulletins. Sometimes the powers that be in rainy Redmond decide to release a dozen or more patches; other times they skip the month altogether. Put simply, Microsoft patch information is given on a need-to-know basis to avoid tipping off the hackers before the release.

But on the receiving end, PT (as the day has become endearingly known to SC Magazine staffers) is a frantic event – or a good excuse to stay at the office and earn overtime or cancel regrettably made dinner plans.

With apologies to the non-corporate bloggers, here’s a rundown from Microsoft on their Security Response Center Blog on the monthly event. Again, there’s minimum information available, but numerous links to other places to find details.

The researchers at F-Secure and McAfee’s Avert Labs and Brian Krebs at the Washington Post give some other examples. And our own Dan Kaplan gives his thoughts on Patch Tuesday on the News Team Blog here.

Britney Spears was back in the headlines today – but not for marital troubles, custody battles or outrageous antics.
Britney was a topic du jour of information security bloggers. Why? Cyberattacks are trying to lure unsuspecting web users to malicious sites by claiming to have racy photos of the former Mrs. Federline, all to infect innocent PCs with malware.

To do this, the bad guys are assuming home users have the pre-partyhopping-with-Paris version of Britney on their minds more than yesterday’s emergency ANI patch for Windows.

Roger Thompson, the CTO and research chief at Exploit Prevention Labs, has been keeping a vigil on ANI developments in recent days, saying “most” of the exploits are using Britney lures.

Believe it or not, it’s not the first time Britney’s graced the (web)pages of SCMagazine.com. A 2005 study by Panda Labs reported that she was the image most used to spread malware, and she’s popped up as a cover for trojans, worms and rootkits since.

So, are cybercriminals and malicious hackers obsessed with Britney Spears? Think of them as paparazzi interested in stealing personal information.