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April Patch Tuesday Fixes 134 Bugs—But Patching Alone Isn’t Enough

Written by Tony Chiappetta | May 9, 2025 9:00:00 AM

Microsoft’s April 2025 Patch Tuesday delivered security fixes for 134 vulnerabilities, including one critical zero-day currently being exploited in the wild.

As TechRepublic reports, this monthly update includes fixes for Windows, Office, Azure, and more. And while patching remains a crucial part of any security program, it’s clear that reactive defense—based on detecting and responding—isn’t enough to protect today’s businesses.

Let’s break down why.

The Scope of the April Patch Tuesday

According to TechRepublic’s full report, this month’s Patch Tuesday addressed:

  • 134 vulnerabilities, including six rated critical

  • One zero-day (CVE-2025-23443) actively exploited

  • A wide range of targets: Windows, Office, Defender, Azure, DNS Server, Hyper-V, SQL, and more

Microsoft is doing what it can to shore up its systems—but attackers are getting faster, more sophisticated, and increasingly able to exploit vulnerabilities before patches are available or deployed.

In other words, the “patch-and-pray” model is starting to show its cracks.

Why the Traditional “Detect and Respond” Model Falls Short

Let’s imagine you’re a small business with a lean IT team. Maybe you rely on managed services or internal tools to detect and respond to threats. You trust Microsoft to issue patches—and you install them as quickly as possible.

But zero-day vulnerabilities are, by nature, exploited before anyone knows they exist. By the time you receive and apply a patch, damage may already be done. The attackers have breached your endpoint, stolen data, dropped malware, or planted backdoors for future attacks.

Detection and response assume:

  • You will be breached

  • You can detect every breach fast enough

  • You can clean up without lasting damage

Unfortunately, attackers no longer play by those rules, and your business suffers the consequences.

The Better Model: Isolation and Containment

Instead of waiting to detect threats and then trying to clean them up, what if you could prevent those threats from executing at all—even if your systems are technically vulnerable?

That’s what AppGuard does.

AppGuard is a proven endpoint protection solution with a 10-year track record—now available for commercial use. It doesn’t rely on signatures, scanning, or reactive behavior. Instead, it isolates and contains applications in a way that blocks malware—even zero-days—from causing harm, without the need for constant updates or patches.

Here’s how AppGuard changes the game:

  • Prevention, not detection: Malware—even if undetected—is stopped from executing harmful actions.

  • No reliance on updates: Even if you haven’t patched yet, AppGuard blocks malicious behavior.

  • Protection for the unpatchable: Legacy apps and systems too risky or costly to patch can still be protected.

This means that even if an attacker exploits a zero-day like CVE-2025-23443 before Microsoft issues a fix, AppGuard keeps your endpoints safe.

Business Owners: It’s Time to Think Differently

The escalating volume and complexity of cyber threats make one thing clear: patching and detection aren't enough.

If you’re a business owner relying on traditional antivirus, EDR, or "defense in depth" strategies centered on detecting and responding, you’re playing catch-up in a game where attackers are always a step ahead.

You don’t need to detect a breach. You need to prevent it from happening in the first place.

That’s why we at CHIPS are advocating for business adoption of AppGuard. It’s time to move away from reactive models and toward a prevention-first mindset built on Isolation and Containment.

Let’s Talk.

Talk with us at CHIPS about how AppGuard can protect your business from the next zero-day—before the patch arrives.

Don't wait for the next Patch Tuesday to find out you’ve been compromised. Reach out today and let’s make sure you’re protected from the threats you can’t even see yet.

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