AN IMPORTANT security patch for Windows Phone 7 (WP7) devices won't work if you've updated your mobile phone through unofficial means.
This week Microsoft will release a '7392' update that protects Windows Phone 7 devices from attacks based on potential vulnerabilities stemming from an incident where a hacker or hackers stole nine digital certificates from SSL certification firm Comodo. Microsoft issued a security advisory about the issue in March, and other companies like Apple have also been busy patching their mobile operating systems against the threat.
But if you have a Windows Phone and have updated it through unofficial channels, you're going to have a problem. This is because build '7392' won't update phones that have been updated to the last build '7390' unofficially. It also means that any future Windows Phone patches aren't likely to work, so in effect the phone will be stuck.
In a blog post, Microsoft's Brandon Watson said, "With the official update process there is a requirement that the package on the phone also be official in order to update itself. Phones updated via the unsupported method do not contain an official image and cannot be updated further at this time."
Watson also clearly stated that Microsoft didn't feel it was worth the resources to change this state of affairs. He said, "Due to scheduling of engineering resources, we did not anticipate having to undue the changes made to phones by these unsupported methods. While we are not ruling out having a fix in the future, for now there is no fix."
In effect he's saying that if you've updated unofficially and now can't update any further, you are stuck and it's your own fault.
He added, "We understand that this isn't ideal. Unfortunately, our engineering priorities are focused on improving the process by which updates get to Windows Phone, issuing the security update you just got and working to getting Mango to market. Undoing this specific problem was not in our schedule."
However there does look like a way back, as Watson said the creators of the unsupported updates should be able to create a fix that gets phones back to their officially supported state, and that Microsoft will work with them to help make that happen.
This week Microsoft will release a '7392' update that protects Windows Phone 7 devices from attacks based on potential vulnerabilities stemming from an incident where a hacker or hackers stole nine digital certificates from SSL certification firm Comodo. Microsoft issued a security advisory about the issue in March, and other companies like Apple have also been busy patching their mobile operating systems against the threat.
But if you have a Windows Phone and have updated it through unofficial channels, you're going to have a problem. This is because build '7392' won't update phones that have been updated to the last build '7390' unofficially. It also means that any future Windows Phone patches aren't likely to work, so in effect the phone will be stuck.
In a blog post, Microsoft's Brandon Watson said, "With the official update process there is a requirement that the package on the phone also be official in order to update itself. Phones updated via the unsupported method do not contain an official image and cannot be updated further at this time."
Watson also clearly stated that Microsoft didn't feel it was worth the resources to change this state of affairs. He said, "Due to scheduling of engineering resources, we did not anticipate having to undue the changes made to phones by these unsupported methods. While we are not ruling out having a fix in the future, for now there is no fix."
In effect he's saying that if you've updated unofficially and now can't update any further, you are stuck and it's your own fault.
He added, "We understand that this isn't ideal. Unfortunately, our engineering priorities are focused on improving the process by which updates get to Windows Phone, issuing the security update you just got and working to getting Mango to market. Undoing this specific problem was not in our schedule."
However there does look like a way back, as Watson said the creators of the unsupported updates should be able to create a fix that gets phones back to their officially supported state, and that Microsoft will work with them to help make that happen.
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