Microsoft Issues WanaCrypt Patch for Windows 8, XP

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Microsoft Corp. today took the unusual step of issuing security updates to address flaws in older, unsupported versions of Windows — including Windows XP and Windows 8. The move is a bid to slow the spread of the WanaCrypt ransomware strain that infected tens of thousands of Windows computers virtually overnight this week.

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https://krebsonsecurity.com/2017/05/...-windows-8-xp/

Surprised that nobody said how they got infected in the first place. Infected via.. what?
Besides, microsoft is incompetent is these things.

@ Master Razor:

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Originally Posted by wiki, WannaCry_ransomware_attack

The WannaCry ransomware attack is an ongoing cyberattack of the WannaCry (or WannaCrypt,[3] WanaCrypt0r 2.0,[4][5] Wanna Decryptor[6]) ransomware computer worm targeting the Microsoft Windows operating system.

The attack affected Telefónica and several other large companies in Spain, as well as parts of Britain's National Health Service (NHS),[9] FedEx, Deutsche Bahn, and LATAM Airlines.[10][11][12][13] Other targets in up to 150 countries were also reported to have been attacked around the same time.[14][15] The worst-hit countries were Russia, Ukraine, India and Taiwan.[16]

Most previous ransomware arrives by phishing emails, and this is alleged to be the case with WannaCry,[17] although there still aren't any confirmations. However, once installed it uses the EternalBlue exploit and DoublePulsar backdoor developed by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA)[18][19] to spread through local networks and remote hosts[20] which have not installed recent security updates, to directly infect any exposed systems.[5][21] A "critical" patch had been issued by Microsoft on 14 March 2017 to remove the underlying vulnerability for supported systems, nearly two months before the attack,[22] but many organizations had not yet applied it.[23]

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Is this any member, who were by chance affected by this ransome-ware?

The coders ended up earning squat! Here are the three address. Have a look at the block-chain report!
https://blockchain.info/address/13AM...kHSQuy6NgaEb94
https://blockchain.info/address/12t9...9p7AA8isjr6SMw
https://blockchain.info/address/115p...jcRdfJNXj6LrLn

By looks of the ransom paid one can definitely state that it turn out to be a fad.

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Originally Posted by cloud99

The coders ended up earning squat! Here are the three address. Have a look at the block-chain report!
https://blockchain.info/address/13AM...kHSQuy6NgaEb94
https://blockchain.info/address/12t9...9p7AA8isjr6SMw
https://blockchain.info/address/115p...jcRdfJNXj6LrLn

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Based on the account balances listed on those links, and given the current exchange rate of ~1800 US dollars to the bitcoin, I wouldn't say it was terribly unsuccessful.

Anyway, it doesn't matter whether the attackers are currently swimming in money or not. Huge losses are caused by lost information and downtime on compromised systems. This should be yet another wake-up call for anyone who uses computers: stay updated, don't click on suspicious links, make backups on a safe place.

I know people who got affected, and they were willing to pay for the ransom, I told them not to, because even paying there were no guarantees that they would have their data back. Anyway, they gave up when I showed them the exchange rate for bitcoin :D

The exchange rate floats wildly, but is always crazy, especially considering bitcoins aren't even "real" money. Whoever saw them coming back in 2009 must have had an early retirement to a beach mansion in the Bahamas that was also made of solid gold :ninja: