A couple of malware investigators on both sides of the Atlantic stumbled upon a hidden feature in the massive ransomware attack that hit over 100 countries this week. The discovery is expected to save victims millions of dollars, that is until the bad guys review their work and improve the next iteration of “WannaCry.”
“Microsoft quickly changed its policy, making security fixes for this vulnerability available for free for the older Windows systems”
Right. Otherwise MS is in the same business as the attackers: Give us money (i.e. for a new OS without the security hole) or lose all your data.
We’re reaching a point where the only cure for this is to track the hackers quietly and once you have decent confirmation on their identities you kick in the door at 4:00 AM, take them into custody to some little island in the middle of nowhere, interrogate them with whatever means necessary to drain them of information then bury what’s left of them out behind the compound. It sounds (and is) harsh but the world now revolves around the internet and secure communications and applications. Unplug the Internet and we would go back not just 20 or 30 years, we’d go back 100 and it would be a hellish journey. If the crime is driven by a government then depending on who it is 100 or 200 cruise missiles and a complete border embargo may be in order or a few targeted sanctions if that approach isn’t feasible.
shhhhhhh….. certain older versions ARE the secure’able’ ones. They don’t like this.
WannaCry Kill-Switch(ed)? It’s Not Over! WannaCry 2.0 Ransomware Arrives
https://thehackernews.com/2017/05/wannacry-ransomware-cyber-attack.html?m=1
I’m with North,
We need to update our laws and punishments for these “white-collar” crimes.
Identity theft should be treated the same as rape and punishable by death.
Ransom-ware is the same armed robbery. Hunt down those who prey on the helpless.
Microsoft is God’s Gift to the criminally bent hacker. Making your data and machine vulnerable since Windows 3.0.
They’ve used their paying customers as beta testers since day one.
@scr_north May 14, 2017 at 1:58 pm
> Unplug the Internet and we would go back not just 20 or 30 years, we’d go back 100 and it would be a hellish journey.
Comcast said the same thing about Comcast. meh.
@ Sum Random Guy May 14, 2017 at 3:48 pm
> Hunt down those who prey on the helpless.
You do realize that’s sedition? Don’t you?
@ anonymous
I do.
My question to you, who would care?
@Sum Random Guy May 14, 2017 at 6:43 pm
> My question to you, who would care?
Loyal citizens, everywhere. If “their” government can’t do worse to them than “their” government’s enemies, then those poor citizens will be at the mercy of those enemies. That would be HORRIBLE! Wouldn’t it, citizen?
Anonymous, I don’t think we’re thinking on the same level.
A loyal citizen wouldn’t be taking the livelihood of other citizens, just because they can, now would they? Seems to me that those who seek to ruin others for their own personal gain aren’t “loyal” at all. In fact, I would go so far as to say they are operating outside the system themselves.
And no, hunting down those who violate others would not be “horrible”. Failure to hold those responsible is “horrible”.
Paranoid much, anonymous? 🐸 👎
I fell into the troll trap.
Ah, trolls, they’re fun to play with, I’m collecting my forth set. Just need two more. 🤡🦄🌈🤣
Once again… M$ built the holes INTO the OS.
They were not accidental. Wake the FRED UP.
It was planned since NT W2K.
Good plan if ALL your users are idiots. But we’re not.
W2K and XP are highly securable.
But dummies need easy and convenient and FLASHY.
Macromedia Flash. The ROOT of Evil. YOUR Intelligence Community at work.
Hell… most of you gave up your copper lines and you don’t even know what that means legally.
I sincerely hope that this ‘kill switch’ bullcrap is just a ruse & not the real reason this hack was stopped
are they really stupid enough to broadcast how they stopped this? … really?
… it’s akin to the British in WWII bragging to the world that they just cracked the Nazi’s Enigma code at the beginning of hostilities
@ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ May 14, 2017 at 10:06 pm
> are they really stupid enough to broadcast how they stopped this?
It couldn’t be hidden. (If you believe the story.) The worm made a request to a public address, effectively asking “Should I stop?”. Someone put up a sign that said “Yes”.