Basically, a large number of organisations in multiple countries have been affected by ransomware, which is demanding payment in bitcoins. It appears to be on a much larger scale than most other cyber attacks we've seen, as it isn't just on one organisation, but many worldwise. It even includes England's/Scotland's NHS, which I think is pretty low even for a cyber attack, given that people's lives depend on this service, and now they've declared a major incident there. So what are other people's thoughts on this, and I'm not particularly informed on this type of attack, so could anyone with more technical know-how explain how this is able to affect multiple organisations on such a large scale?
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Worldwide Ransomware Infections
- Thread starter Taistelu
- Start date
big fuzz for nothing, most attacks happened on russia using some nsa developed exploit, the fact they targeted hospitals is wicked though, shit like that only harm bitcoin as a market entity on the long run.
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Not speaking from what I know but speaking on a technical level: how? If the virus can spread through, say, newer Windows to older Windows, it usually means the newer computer is compromised too. Either way even if they sprayed the virus around wherever they could it's likely they picked their victims, which includes the hospitals.
And if they were targeting older software it's one of two things: they couldn't crack newer software, or they were targeting government / national institute style places which usually have outdated tech.
EDIT: the virus is called WannaCry. why.
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^it was a base code vulnerability (i.e in the core architecture of the windows platform) that microsoft only discovered two months prior after the NSA tipped them off about it. they pushed out a patch to update it. people who didn't get it were bumfucked basically. XP computers were more vulnerable b/c Microsoft stopped supporting them officially a couple of years back. Coveniently because of budget constraints almost all of the NHS digital infra was on Windows XP.
So no I don't think they found a way to specifically target the hospitals (many of the hospital systems got infected b/c people opened attachments in their own mailboxes while on those machines), but I'm p sure the hackers knew those to be super vulnerable, with high chances of this happy accident.
So no I don't think they found a way to specifically target the hospitals (many of the hospital systems got infected b/c people opened attachments in their own mailboxes while on those machines), but I'm p sure the hackers knew those to be super vulnerable, with high chances of this happy accident.
Apparently someone managed to stop it. I don't know anything about computers but his story seems a little too convenient.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...-attack-nhs-a7734876.html?cmpid=facebook-post
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...-attack-nhs-a7734876.html?cmpid=facebook-post
The NSA and Microsoft should be held accountable. Cyber warfare needs to be treated and taken just as seriously as any other means of warfare. It's ridiculous to think that the #1 security agency in the world had some of the most dangerous exploits leaked due to their own incompetence. No network is invulnerable but fuck me if they should get a free pass. Their fuck-up and shitty practices caused this to happen.
They also ruined my Friday night by making my triple check that every Windows server I manage, and even obsolete workstations, had the March security update.
They also ruined my Friday night by making my triple check that every Windows server I manage, and even obsolete workstations, had the March security update.
It's a worm (which does exactly what it sounds like) exploiting a file sharing system vulnerability through phishing emails. Once one person is hit, your entire organization is at risk.
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