Patch your Windows PC against WannaCrypt - and whatever follows WannaCrypt

[robkelk]

WannaCry / WannaCrypt has been in the news all weekend - it's the first malicious example of that stolen NSA code to turn up in the wild. I doubt it'll be the last.

So it's time to patch your PC. (I assume it's also time to patch your Mac/*nix system, as well.) While you're at it, update your antivirus data. NOW.

The patch for Windows 10 should be delivered automatically by Windows Update - it's been out for nearly two months now.

The patch for Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 8 is available at http://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com ... ?q=4012598

If you install a language pack after you install this patch, you'll need to install the patch again.

Relatively non-technical overview:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/05/1 ... ware_worm/

Technical overview (which may be of help for the Mac/*nix contingent):
http://www.cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvenam ... -2017-0143
http://www.cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvenam ... -2017-0144
http://www.cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvenam ... -2017-0145
http://www.cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvenam ... -2017-0146
http://www.cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvenam ... -2017-0147
http://www.cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvenam ... -2017-0148
http://technet.microsoft.com/library/security/MS17-010
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[ordnance11]

It seems to be going Windows XP users..of which there are still a lot of them. And it was until recently unsupported.
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

[robkelk]

I'm not surprised. There's a huge installed base of XP systems where you wouldn't expect to find Windows - cash registers, ticket scanners, standalone ATMs (usually not the ones the banks own, though), and so on. And some places where you'd expect the upgrade to have taken place years ago; it only takes one piece of mission-critical no-longer-supported software that doesn't run in Windows 7 to justify keeping XP on the floor.

Oh, and http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/globa ... -1.4115065]here's an article about the spread of the current ransomware

EDIT: And backup your system. If you don't have any better way to do it, buy an external USB hard drive that's larger than the drive in your PC, and run SyncToy overnight to copy everything from your hard drive to the external drive. (Suggestions for better ways to do it are welcome - I know the state-of-the-art for enterprise-level backups, not the state-of-the-art for a home setup. Folks here probably can't afford enterprise-level backup software.)

RE-EDIT: And unplug the external USB hard drive when the backup is complete, so that it doesn't get encrypted if/when the PC's hard drive gets encrypted.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Inquisitive Raven]

And how is one supposed to patch Windows 7? It's rather conspicuously missing from that list.

[robkelk]

I believe Win7 was patched two months ago...

(goes and checks)

Patch for Win7, dated March 14, is described in http://support.microsoft.com/en-ca/help/4013389/title - check your Windows Update log for KB4013389.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Skyfire2020]

I use the free version of easeUS todo backup to create a partition image on an external drive.

I made a partition backup on Friday night because of the ransomware scare and on Saturday I started getting sata hard disk warnings. I'm not technical so I ended up paying the local shop to install a new drive and they restored the backup at the same time. They might have been able to save the hard disc content anyway since the drive hadn't failed YET but it certainly didn't hurt.

Mark