All that has been done is that they have figured out the file system, which is not much different than the original Xbox file system. I would consider it a game hack, not really an Xbox 360 hack. But (it is) the beginning steps of one.

It is the skeleton in Microsoft's closet. We routinely find them.

It's safe to assume that once we find a flaw, someone else will probably find it. The problem here is that someone malicious might find it and exploit it before Microsoft can provide full protection.

This month, Microsoft is only issuing one patch and we already know it's not one of ours. That means that our overdue list will keep getting longer and longer,

This patch is not meant to replace the forthcoming Microsoft patch, rather it is intended as a temporary protection against this flaw.

They are simply left in the dark and may ignore a patch that is super-critical to their environment. Meanwhile, the bad guy has spent the time to find out what was silently fixed.

This flaw is not as critical as some because it can only be exploited on the local network and even if it is compromised, the error would only be able to crash the server, not expose the data or put information at risk. Basically, someone on the local network could crash the machine running the software. It doesn't allow for any kind of actual access to the machine or to the data.

As far as we know, this update does not address our issues.

Users can protect themselves by not clicking on any links in e-mails from unrecognized sources and by generally paying attention to what Web sites they are visiting. Locking down a system and not using the administrator account at all times lowers the risk but does not mitigate the vulnerability.

Microsoft's customers depend on that information to figure out how to respond to Patch Tuesday. The reality is, system administrators will delay deploying a patch based on the details of the bulletin. When details aren't included, he won't install that patch. That is a big problem.