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NSA Cybersecurity Advisory: Patch Remote Desktop Services on Legacy Windows

nsa.gov

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Re: NSA Cybersecurity Advisory: Patch Remote Desktop Services on Legacy Windows

#3

Post by userbinator »

In order to increase resilience against this threat while large networks patch and upgrade, there are additional measures that can be taken

I'd say those are the first things that should be done, regardless of the presence of exploits; exposing a port/listening service to the Internet you don't need, especially one that can remotely give complete control to an attacker, is always a bad idea. Fortunately the majority of computers out there are probably behind a NAT, which helps greatly to keep them from being hacked remotely.

Disable remote Desktop Services if they are not required. Disabling unused and unneeded services helps reduce exposure to security vulnerabilities overall and is a best practice even without the BlueKeep threat.

Very good advice --- too bad latest Windows versions have not-so-clearly-described tons of services running by default, many of which phone home in some way, and some of which are nearly impossible to disable...

Re: NSA Cybersecurity Advisory: Patch Remote Desktop Services on Legacy Windows

#4

Post by Theodores »

Who has the fear of visiting a URL owned by a three letter agency known for nefarious spying activities?

I do!

So here is a third party report for anyone else that views three letter agency URLs as having all the appeal of a trip to a virtual leper colony:

https://www.zdnet.com/article/even-the-nsa-is-urging-windows...

Re: NSA Cybersecurity Advisory: Patch Remote Desktop Services on Legacy Windows

#5

Post by PatrolX »

userbinator wrote: post #3

In order to increase resilience against this threat while large networks patch and upgrade, there are additional measures that can be taken I'd say those are the first things that should be done, regardless of the presence of exploits; exposing a port/listening service to the Internet you don't need, especially one that can remotely give complete control to an attacker, is always a bad idea. Fortunately the majority…

It's pretty amazing that there are over 900k accessible vulnerable endpoints sitting there waiting to be attacked. This is why they're freaking out about it.

Source: https://blog.erratasec.com/2019/05/almost-one-million-vulner...

Eventually someone will wormify that vuln in a few weeks or months and it's going to be a big mess when it happens.

Re: NSA Cybersecurity Advisory: Patch Remote Desktop Services on Legacy Windows

#6

Post by throwaway2048 »

Theodores wrote: post #4

Who has the fear of visiting a URL owned by a three letter agency known for nefarious spying activities? I do! So here is a third party report for anyone else that views three letter agency URLs as having all the appeal of a trip to a virtual leper colony: https://www.zdnet.com/article/even-the-nsa-is-urging-windows...

If the NSA was planning to hack you, it wouldn't be via you visiting NSA.gov

Re: NSA Cybersecurity Advisory: Patch Remote Desktop Services on Legacy Windows

#8

Post by [deleted] »

throwaway2048 wrote: post #6
Theodores wrote: post #4

Who has the fear of visiting a URL owned by a three letter agency known for nefarious spying activities? I do! So here is a third party report for anyone else that views three letter agency URLs as having all the appeal of a trip to a virtual leper colony: https://www.zdnet.com/article/even-the-nsa-is-urging-windows...

If the NSA was planning to hack you, it wouldn't be via you visiting NSA.gov

[deleted]

Re: NSA Cybersecurity Advisory: Patch Remote Desktop Services on Legacy Windows

#10

Post by gruez »

JudgeWapner wrote: post #7

You can totally trust our advice for all your digital security needs. - your friendly neighborhood intelligence agency.

You don't trust NSA, so you're going to not patch your systems? Are you worried that the patch is a delivery vehicle for their APT implants?
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