Author Topic: Microsoft patches Windows XP to fight 'WannaCrypt' attacks  (Read 11056 times)

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Offline brickbatz

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I'm all for Windows 10 but I find this "HOLY CRAP!"

Support for the OS ended three years ago but yesterday's infection spurred the 'unusual' step.

engadget

Offline Alfonz

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Re: Microsoft patches Windows XP to fight 'WannaCrypt' attacks
« Reply #1 on: May 13, 2017, 05:50:20 AM »
About 25% of our computers are still on XP, that's close to 3000 units! IT maintains that there is no need to upgrade units that are working properly if they've received all security patches. Even the "upgraded" machines are Win 7 at best, the way Win 10 integrates with the individual user will force us to develop newer infaweb software that will automatically restrict user activity on a given machine.

Also read that the leader of the Shadow Brokers is Fiona Glenanne, a former terrorist with the Irish Republican Army.

Offline goldshirt*9

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Re: Microsoft patches Windows XP to fight 'WannaCrypt' attacks
« Reply #2 on: May 13, 2017, 05:57:30 AM »
we run alot of XP pc's at my work because some of the software for the machine only use XP

Offline goldshirt*9

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Re: Microsoft patches Windows XP to fight 'WannaCrypt' attacks
« Reply #3 on: May 16, 2017, 08:07:25 AM »
so did anyone get hit by the virus ?

Offline mishca09

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Re: Microsoft patches Windows XP to fight 'WannaCrypt' attacks
« Reply #4 on: May 16, 2017, 05:27:05 PM »
I got a weird email from a friend with an attachment. I opened it... but on my phone.... nothing happen3d.

Offline dweez

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Re: Microsoft patches Windows XP to fight 'WannaCrypt' attacks
« Reply #5 on: May 16, 2017, 08:00:58 PM »
We had a bunch on campus hit by the first wave (SMB1 and EternalBlue), none directly in my department.  For the WannaCry, so far I haven't seen any hit. The first version of it was thwarted by a researcher that found a hard-coded kill switch which got activated before it went live. But I believe a version without the kill switch was found in the wild less than 24 hours later.
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Offline goldshirt*9

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Re: Microsoft patches Windows XP to fight 'WannaCrypt' attacks
« Reply #6 on: May 17, 2017, 07:55:08 AM »
Not me.



personally I know no one and our work is so locked down its ridiculously safe.

the show still go's on with the theories where it originated ??
 Can no one trace the bit coins / cast they get ??

Offline mishca09

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Re: Microsoft patches Windows XP to fight 'WannaCrypt' attacks
« Reply #7 on: May 17, 2017, 10:35:13 AM »
The news lady said it's believed it came from north Korea ...

Offline smokester

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Re: Microsoft patches Windows XP to fight 'WannaCrypt' attacks
« Reply #8 on: May 17, 2017, 03:09:09 PM »
My theory (based on a mish-mash of news reports and guess work):

A young lad, in his bedroom, discovered the leaked NSA stuff and decided that he would see if he could figure out a bit of software that would encrypt someone's hard drive and demand money, combined with a worm that would spread itself around the local network, attached to a "phishing" e-mail. More of a proof of his own ability than anything else.

Probably the kid was in the US (hence the ask for dollars - unless that was embedded in wherever he found his basic code).

It was almost certainly not intended for release into the wild, or to target large institutions (who asks the NHS for $300? £3,000,000 more like ...).

The young lad put a safety valve into the code (check an IP/ address, and if you find it, do nothing) to ensure that it wouldn't escape into the wild.

When he sent it to himself to test it, it never arrived, so he gave up. Maybe he never realised that he had screwed up the safety IP, and either put a random string, or a typo, where the "safe IP" should have been.

-- AND THEN --

Oops - it is in the wild, and he doesn't know why, and can't do anything about it.

Fits the facts (as they have been reported), and completely destroys the received wisdom that we need a global anti-cyber-terror structure, as they almost certainly would never - and could never - account of those meddling kids.

It suits me down to the ground that script-kiddies such as these don't get fed Apple-attacking malware prototypes, for whatever reason (maybe Apple doesn't share them with the NSA?), as it means that I can sleep safe in my bed at night (although my medical care may be at risk!)

That's almost a short story I could read my kids at bedtime. Although, I'm not sure about the product placement ending.
Don't put off until tomorrow, what you can put off until the day after.

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Offline goldshirt*9

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Re: Microsoft patches Windows XP to fight 'WannaCrypt' attacks
« Reply #9 on: May 18, 2017, 09:31:02 AM »
Writing imaginary back-stories to news events is one of those things I do.

I thought that was the job of your disciples

Offline 8ullfrog

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Re: Microsoft patches Windows XP to fight 'WannaCrypt' attacks
« Reply #10 on: May 18, 2017, 01:26:40 PM »
Apparently it was outsourced from a firm in hong kong. A victim emailed them and said they didn't have the $400, the hacker bitched back that the hong kong firm grossly overestimated incomes in most regions. Went on to decrypt the victim, but then said if the victim liked the software (dafuq?) They should spend a few bucks to buy them some coffee.

I never liked the coffee analogy.

I figure most people still running XP probably aren't all that wealthy, and that the targets were individuals rather than institutions.

That being said, I know the atms at my bank are running xp, because of the usb disconnection tone.

Offline dweez

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Re: Microsoft patches Windows XP to fight 'WannaCrypt' attacks
« Reply #11 on: May 18, 2017, 03:28:31 PM »
Lots of corporations are still using older OSes (WinXP/Vista/Win7) because they either don't have the money budgeted to upgrade their hardware to support the new OSes and/or 2) they don't have the money to buy the licenses for the new OSes.
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Offline 8ullfrog

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Re: Microsoft patches Windows XP to fight 'WannaCrypt' attacks
« Reply #12 on: May 18, 2017, 05:06:15 PM »
Or just never had the intent to "upgrade" because they have the mentality that computers are like refrigerators or toaster ovens.

Also disregard my previous post. Even after paying, the ransomware does not decrypt.

Offline goldshirt*9

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Re: Microsoft patches Windows XP to fight 'WannaCrypt' attacks
« Reply #13 on: May 19, 2017, 04:38:34 AM »
we run xp a lot due to software not being available on the more recent OS.
The time required and money to re-encode various CMM machines is ridiculous

Offline Alfonz

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Re: Microsoft patches Windows XP to fight 'WannaCrypt' attacks
« Reply #14 on: May 19, 2017, 10:21:08 AM »
Lots of corporations are still using older OSes (WinXP/Vista/Win7) because they either don't have the money budgeted to upgrade their hardware to support the new OSes and/or 2) they don't have the money to buy the licenses for the new OSes.

A little of this, and a little of;  "Or just never had the intent to "upgrade" because they have the mentality that computers are like refrigerators or toaster ovens."

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it" only goes so far.

*Edit, received an email from IT this afternoon informing us that "staff used XP computers in your area will be upgraded to Win 7 in the coming week, please move your data to Z drive".  Coincidence?
« Last Edit: May 19, 2017, 01:54:01 PM by Alfonz »

Offline brickbatz

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Re: Microsoft patches Windows XP to fight 'WannaCrypt' attacks
« Reply #15 on: May 19, 2017, 02:52:38 PM »
Seems odd to me IT is moving to an OS that has less than 3 years of Microsoft support left.

Quote
Microsoft doesn't plan to stop fixing security problems in Windows 7 until extended support ends. That's January 14, 2020.

Offline Alfonz

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Re: Microsoft patches Windows XP to fight 'WannaCrypt' attacks
« Reply #16 on: May 19, 2017, 03:01:51 PM »
Seems odd to me IT is moving to an OS that has less than 3 years of Microsoft support left.

Problem is, Win 10 isn't really suitable for a public environment. The OS would need to be heavily tweaked, yet still remain legal.

Offline dweez

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Re: Microsoft patches Windows XP to fight 'WannaCrypt' attacks
« Reply #17 on: May 19, 2017, 04:37:02 PM »
Problem is, Win 10 isn't really suitable for a public environment. The OS would need to be heavily tweaked, yet still remain legal.

That's not really true. There's the Enterprise version, which has additional IT-based functionality and the LTSB edition which is less "feature rich" and only receives the security updates (not the new features updates).  Using one of these, it shouldn't be too difficult to roll out a "tweaked for your corp" base image.  Yes, it will take time and yes, odds are some hardware will have to be replaced, but it's cheaper than a lawsuit due to a data breach.
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Offline goldshirt*9

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Re: Microsoft patches Windows XP to fight 'WannaCrypt' attacks
« Reply #18 on: May 19, 2017, 11:54:58 PM »
so is windoze 10 better purchased or upgraded, I went from W7 to 10 on the free upgrade and regretted it as my pc was a little old and now suffers.
could be the pc not the OS but if i purchased a newer pc and W10 would it run a lot less laggy ?
I ultimately would run linux but wife daughter have their Itunes on pc and a few programs i cannot get on linux which i love or dual boot maybe.
Still need a new pc though

Offline Alfonz

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Re: Microsoft patches Windows XP to fight 'WannaCrypt' attacks
« Reply #19 on: May 20, 2017, 05:03:50 AM »
That's not really true. There's the Enterprise version, which has additional IT-based functionality and the LTSB edition which is less "feature rich" and only receives the security updates (not the new features updates).  Using one of these, it shouldn't be too difficult to roll out a "tweaked for your corp" base image.  Yes, it will take time and yes, odds are some hardware will have to be replaced, but it's cheaper than a lawsuit due to a data breach.

I imagine you're correct in regards to the Enterprise edition, LTSBs are available with or without Software Assurance, the SA would be ideal since it would also allow future upgrades to be deferred.

I always think the biggest hurdle for organizations such as my employer, is the general lack of knowledge with new OS's and how they can be maintained from the administrators chair. 3 or 4 IT guys maintaining 10,000 + PCs, a few hundred iMac's, 1000's of tablets, network servers, and networking in general, it's not difficult to understand that the easiest route is the most logical, and that's without even beginning to negotiate cost.

so is windoze 10 better purchased or upgraded, I went from W7 to 10 on the free upgrade and regretted it as my pc was a little old and now suffers.
could be the pc not the OS but if i purchased a newer pc and W10 would it run a lot less laggy ?
I ultimately would run linux but wife daughter have their Itunes on pc and a few programs i cannot get on linux which i love or dual boot maybe.
Still need a new pc though

I don't think I found much difference between the version I initially upgraded and the clean installs I performed much later. Win 10 is touted as performing faster than 7 but that comes down to user experience. Most issues seem to be hardware and drivers, although some software seems to run much better on previous Windows versions. Windows 10 compatibility troubleshooter is hit and miss at best, mostly miss.

A newer PC will give you a lot less grief. You need to buy one of my Macs  ;D

Offline brickbatz

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Re: Microsoft patches Windows XP to fight 'WannaCrypt' attacks
« Reply #20 on: May 20, 2017, 11:02:13 AM »
My old lady's PC has a 16 year old CPU (i5-2500K) and Windows 10 starts in under 15 seconds.

Offline dweez

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Re: Microsoft patches Windows XP to fight 'WannaCrypt' attacks
« Reply #21 on: May 20, 2017, 12:30:21 PM »
Newer hardware will of course perform better in general but I've found Windows 10 to be fairly robust in adjusting to different generations of hardware. At least, more so than the previous Windows OSes. There's also the new Windows 10 S version that will be coming out soon, if you can operate under the restrictions it has (only apps from the Windows Store can be installed).
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Offline Alfonz

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Re: Microsoft patches Windows XP to fight 'WannaCrypt' attacks
« Reply #22 on: May 20, 2017, 02:43:36 PM »
lol brick...you must have meant "6 years". the first i5's were released until 2009 and the i5 2500's in 2011, even Conroe didn't come out until 2006.

I would put money on most Win 10 upgrade failures or poor user experience is with the $300 laptop crowd.

Offline brickbatz

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Re: Microsoft patches Windows XP to fight 'WannaCrypt' attacks
« Reply #23 on: May 20, 2017, 09:22:49 PM »
lol brick...you must have meant "6 years". the first i5's were released until 2009 and the i5 2500's in 2011, even Conroe didn't come out until 2006.

Ah... yeah 6 years.  ::)


Offline goldshirt*9

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Re: Microsoft patches Windows XP to fight 'WannaCrypt' attacks
« Reply #24 on: May 21, 2017, 12:07:02 AM »
my pc must be around 2009 manufacturer with a AMD Athelon 250 installed.