tao Posted May 13, 2017 Share Posted May 13, 2017 Microsoft Releases Emergency Windows XP Update to Block WannaCry Ransomware Microsoft has published an emergency update for Windows versions that are only getting custom support in order to block the ongoing attacks with the WannaCry ransomware (flagged by Microsoft as Ransom:Win32/WannaCrypt). Windows XP, Windows 8, and Windows Server 2003 users and can download the patch from the Microsoft Update Catalog and the software giant recommends everyone to update their systems are soon as possible given the growing number of attacks. WannaCry infections were first spotted yesterday in Europe, with organizations in several countries, including the United Kingdom and Spain, being targeted. The British National Health System was severely hit by the ransomware, which late on Friday started spreading across the United States as well. The infection is based on a Windows vulnerability originally owned by the NSA and which got leaked earlier this year by hacker group Shadow Brokers. Microsoft explained that Windows versions still getting support, including here Windows 7, 8.1, and 10, with the latest updates installed and the most recent Windows Defender virus definitions, are completely secure. Avoid opening emails from untrusted sources On the other hand, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and Windows 8 are no longer supported and they didn’t get the most recent Windows updates, so Microsoft decided to publish this emergency patch given the scale of this attack. “We also know that some of our customers are running versions of Windows that no longer receive mainstream support. That means those customers will not have received the above mentioned Security Update released in March. Given the potential impact to customers and their businesses, we made the decision to make the Security Update for platforms in custom support only, Windows XP, Windows 8, and Windows Server 2003, broadly available for download,” Microsoft explained. “This decision was made based on an assessment of this situation, with the principle of protecting our customer ecosystem overall, firmly in mind.” The company goes on to state that some attacks were using phishing tactics with malicious attachments, so users should avoid opening these files, especially if they come from untrusted or unknown sources. The emergency patch for unsupported Windows versions can be found here: Windows Server 2003 SP2 x64, Windows Server 2003 SP2 x86, Windows XP SP2 x64, Windows XP SP3 x86, Windows XP Embedded SP3 x86, Windows 8 x86, and Windows 8 x64. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batu69 Posted May 14, 2017 Share Posted May 14, 2017 Moved from software updates forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steven36 Posted May 14, 2017 Share Posted May 14, 2017 LOL this shows how vulnerable XP is Microsoft patched this on other windows in March , This should be a warning too some to update you're OS , If you would been using Linux you would never even been vulnerable to this strain of ransomware . There looking for who is behind it to start up a new campaign any day now. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
virge Posted May 14, 2017 Share Posted May 14, 2017 Microsoft should stop supporting XP, let's that it die out. XP is a dinosaur and needs to go away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edwardecl Posted May 14, 2017 Share Posted May 14, 2017 Microsoft should just tell people using Windows XP to migrate to Linux. There is absolutely no point patching something after it's been hacked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tao Posted May 14, 2017 Author Share Posted May 14, 2017 Thanks Microsoft for doing the right thing. Kudos! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sylence Posted May 14, 2017 Share Posted May 14, 2017 Linux with that 1% market share still got very serious malwares in its history, gods helps us if it be used by people with few knowledge about computers. with one line of code in terminal you can burn your system in Linux. Microsoft on the other hand has the leading OS with the most market share and that also brings the most attention to it too, so they're one the front line and are fighting malwares. it's good to see they still care about a product they released 16 years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holmes Posted May 15, 2017 Share Posted May 15, 2017 They would love to let it die users that still use it disagree with you (atleast some do). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pablomarmol Posted May 15, 2017 Share Posted May 15, 2017 Download localized language security emergency patch : Windows Server 2003 SP2 x64, Windows Server 2003 SP2 x86, Windows XP SP2 x64, Windows XP SP3 x86, Windows XP Embedded SP3 x86, Windows 8 x86, Windows 8 x64 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
humble3d Posted May 15, 2017 Share Posted May 15, 2017 I refuse to hate anything...including windows xp... No harm in using windows XP offline... We do it all the time and we're happy... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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