Automatic receiving of small updates to improve reliability must be disallowed.

From Microsoft Office System 2010

Part of DTOO185 - Do not receive Automatic small updates

SV-33451r1_rule Automatic receiving of small updates to improve reliability must be disallowed.

Vulnerability discussion

Office Diagnostics is used to improve the user experience by periodically downloading a small file to the computer with updated help information about specific problems. If Office Diagnostics is enabled, it collects information about specific errors and the IP address of the computer. When new help information is available, that help information is downloaded to the computer that experienced the related problems. Office Diagnostics does not transmit any personally identifiable information to Microsoft other than the IP address of the computer requesting the update. By default, users have the opportunity to opt into receiving updates from Office Diagnostics the first time they run a 2010 Office application. If your organization has policies that govern the use of external resources such as Office Diagnostics, allowing users to opt in to this feature might cause them to violate these policies.

Check content

Fix text

Set the policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Office 2010-> Privacy -> Trust Center “Automatically receive small updates to improve reliability” to “Disabled”.

Pro Tips

Lavender hyperlinks in small type off to the right (of CSS class id, if you view the page source) point to globally unique URIs for each document and item. Copy the link location and paste anywhere you need to talk unambiguously about these things.

You can obtain data about documents and items in other formats. Simply provide an HTTP header Accept: text/turtle or Accept: application/rdf+xml.