Microsoft Warns WannaCry-like Windows Attack

Microsoft warns users of older versions of Windows of installing Windows Update immediately to protect against potential, widespread attacks. The software giant has fixed vulnerabilities in Remote Desktop Services running on Windows XP, Windows 7, and server versions such as Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Windows Server 2008. Microsoft is taking this unusual approach of releasing patches for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, although both operating systems do not support it. Windows XP users must manually download updates from the Microsoft Update Catalog.

“This vulnerability is pre-authentication and requires no user interaction,” explains Simon Pope, director of incident response at Microsoft’s Security Response Center. “In other words, the vulnerability is ‘virus’, meaning that any future malware that exploits this vulnerability could propagate from the vulnerable computer to vulnerable computer in a similar way as the WannaCry malware spread across the globe in 2017.”

Microsoft said it had not observed the exploitation of this vulnerability. However, after the patch is released, it is only a matter of time before the attacker selects Microsoft patches and creates malware. Fortunately, Windows 8 and Windows 10 computers are not affected by this vulnerability. Although Windows 10 is now more popular than Windows 7, there are still millions of computers running Windows 7 that can make potential attacks very problematic.

Microsoft breaks the tradition of not patching, Windows operating systems that are not supported when thousands of computers in more than 100 countries are affected by the malware known as WannaCry. The malware uses a bug in the old version of Windows to encrypt the computer and asks for a $ 300 ransom before opening it. Microsoft is keen to avoid other WannaCry programs, even though it states that “the best way to resolve this vulnerability is to upgrade to the latest version of Windows.”

Source: https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/14/18623565/microsoft-windows-xp-remote-desktop-services-worm-security-patches

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