Is OSX affected ?
For the record, no.
Cyberattacks in 12 Nations Said to Use Leaked N.S.A. Hacking Tool
341–350 of 505 posts
Re: Cyberattacks in 12 Nations Said to Use Leaked N.S.A. Hacking Tool
#342> "Microsoft rolled out a patch for the vulnerability last March, but hackers took advantage of the fact that vulnerable targets — particularly hospitals — had yet to update their systems." > "The malware was circulated by email; targets were sent an encrypted, compressed file that, once loaded, allowed the ransomware to infiltrate its targets." It sounds like the basic (?) security practices recommended by professio…
If you run a large installation of computers, taking updates can be a huge risk. Often they can break things, and then you're in the position of being blamed for running an update. Not updating can often lead to much higher stability. In previous environments I've worked that were "regulated", any change to the environent, such as a firmware upgrade, triggered an entire re-regulation process (testing, paperwork, etc)…
Downloading Microsoft security updates is simple and safe.
You just download the monthly rollup: http://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/search.aspx?q=401221...
Any competent sysadmin will have these available on their internal update server and push updates+restart during off-peak hours.
Receptionist computers that can open websites with untrusted JavaScript can't reasonably be held to this certification. Certification isn't what kept the NHS from applying patches.
Re: Cyberattacks in 12 Nations Said to Use Leaked N.S.A. Hacking Tool
#343Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's wrong. If you run a large installation of computers, and you do not have a plan and a process for quickly deploying security patches, you should be fired with cause. In this specific case, there are mitigations available that do not require installation of software, but merely a configuration change. Also in this specific case, the people who run IT at NHS are completely incompetent, and this has been well-doc…
Easy for your to say. I have been unable to do my job for a several days because some update broke a service I was using. Sure the service was badly written, but we didn't know that until the patch was applied. The phone company used to have (they still might, I'm not in the business anymore) large labs that were small replications of their network. I've been in meetings where the goal was to decide if we should try…
Was the update a Microsoft Security Update?
Re: Cyberattacks in 12 Nations Said to Use Leaked N.S.A. Hacking Tool
#344Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's wrong. If you run a large installation of computers, and you do not have a plan and a process for quickly deploying security patches, you should be fired with cause. In this specific case, there are mitigations available that do not require installation of software, but merely a configuration change. Also in this specific case, the people who run IT at NHS are completely incompetent, and this has been well-doc…
When you say 'the people who run IT at the NHS' you are aware that thanks to recent governments attempts to break up central structures, each hospital trust, each GP surgery is likely to have someone different handling IT - market forces are good etc.
Do you know this assertively?
Re: Cyberattacks in 12 Nations Said to Use Leaked N.S.A. Hacking Tool
#345Here is a link to the malware sample and technical implementation details.
https://gist.github.com/rain-1/989428fa5504f378b993ee6efbc0b...
Re: Cyberattacks in 12 Nations Said to Use Leaked N.S.A. Hacking Tool
#346Earlier quoted context omitted.
If so, that is both scary and exciting.
it took me a while to realize this is live....
I am curious. How is this tracked? What signature or what component are they looking for to be able to say "Yeah, here is another one"?
I'm just curious and would like someone with more experience to weigh in.
EDIT: To add on further to my question, I wonder why it does not use a terrain / city / province overlay instead of all black? It seems it would be much more useful to us network and sysadmins out there just in case we realized "Oh, hey that dot is right on top of where we work out of. I should probably fire up WireShark or something and test for infected systems."
Re: Cyberattacks in 12 Nations Said to Use Leaked N.S.A. Hacking Tool
#347Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well this justifies MS's decision for forced updates in Win10. Not that I like it, just saying.
So your workstation is next to a bed and is attached to a machine which feeds a drip to keep a little girl alive and it gets your untested patch or whole OS upgrade and the dosage is increased or the driver stops and the patient dies. Only non-critical machines can just automatically apply software patches from Redmond (or anybody). This is not laziness or incompetence - only a few weeks ago military grade exploits f…
The IV drip machine is not plugged into the CoW (Computer on Wheels). That workstation is running a version of enterprise Windows primarily to allow the medical professional to view and update patient records.
The IV drip machine is plugged into the wall, and is operated by buttons on the front.
Re: Cyberattacks in 12 Nations Said to Use Leaked N.S.A. Hacking Tool
#348Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you explicitly ask someone with the form "are there are organizations that are infalliable to leaks?" they're likely to say "no of course not. Humans make errors" But if you phrase it to something like "Can the government be trusted with backdoors to protect us from terrorists and Chinese hackers", then suddenly public sentiment will change dramatically.
To quote Göring, > Göring: Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country. Patriotism is both a wonderful and terrible thing, and it is made worse by feari…
It's quite hard to find a good pitch for patriotism. I like my country, by like any relationship, it is conditional on not being a sociopath. Furthermore, everything i like about my country i country i can like directly: free speech is laudable in itself. Without free speech, what is the us? Nothing i care for.
Re: Cyberattacks in 12 Nations Said to Use Leaked N.S.A. Hacking Tool
#349Earlier quoted context omitted.
To quote Göring, > Göring: Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country. Patriotism is both a wonderful and terrible thing, and it is made worse by feari…
I'm yet to see anything positive from patriotism. It's a form of outdated tribalism. Even the idea of a nation-state isn't that old - this all started with the Napoleonic Wars. Patriotism always leads to "us" vs "them", it seems.
Patriotism seems to be a euphemism for nationalism.
Re: Cyberattacks in 12 Nations Said to Use Leaked N.S.A. Hacking Tool
#350Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well this justifies MS's decision for forced updates in Win10. Not that I like it, just saying.
So your workstation is next to a bed and is attached to a machine which feeds a drip to keep a little girl alive and it gets your untested patch or whole OS upgrade and the dosage is increased or the driver stops and the patient dies. Only non-critical machines can just automatically apply software patches from Redmond (or anybody). This is not laziness or incompetence - only a few weeks ago military grade exploits f…
Your hypothetical situation distracts from the actual issue. The ransomware infected NHS patient records servers and receptionist workstations, according to the article.