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French Researchers Find Last-ditch Cure To Unlock WannaCry Files (reuters.com)
French researchers said on Friday they had found a last-chance way for technicians to save Windows files encrypted by WannaCry, racing against a deadline as the ransomware threatens to start locking up victims' computers first infected a week ago. From a report: WannaCry, which started to sweep round the globe last Friday and has infected more than 300,000 computers in 150 nations, threatens to lock out victims who have not paid a sum of $300 to $600 within one week of infection. A loose-knit team of security researchers scattered across the globe said they had collaborated to develop a workaround to unlock the encryption key for files hit in the global attack, which several independent security researchers have confirmed. The researchers warned that their solution would only work in certain conditions, namely if computers had not been rebooted since becoming infected and if victims applied the fix before WannaCry carried out its threat to lock their files permanently. Also see: Windows XP PCs Infected By WannaCry Can Be Decrypted Without Paying Ransom.
From TFA:
"This is not a perfect solution," Suiche said. "But this is so far the only workable solution to help enterprises to recover their files if they have been infected and have no back-ups"
If an "enterprise" didn't already have a backup solution in place, their CIO - and relevant members of their IT staff - should be fired.
#DeleteChrome
No, I'm afraid this is an instance of the American's surrendering and the French fighting. In other words, this reflects more of reality as America fails at not just its international obligations but even its intra-national ones. In contrast France actively fights terrorist groups in Mali and Niger so that they don't link in Nigeria and create a greater problem for the western world.
Topically, this is a sign of the strength of the French university system superseding the American system in one of the most important fields for future security.
I'm German you fucking idiot - go troll somewhere else. Look up, I replied to the idiocy of another poster with information from reality. If you consider that a problem then perhaps you need some mental health treatment. Reality isn't flexible, and it is what it is.
Just for kicks last weekend I put a completely unpatched Windows 10 machine, installed from a June 2016 RTM, on the Internet, 100% exposed. No NAT firewall. No Windows Firewall. No AV. No anti-malware. No nothing. Public IP. I even went so far as to enable insecure RDP and install a VNC server with NO authentication on the standard port.
Almost a week later, there is nothing unusual happening on that machine. No unusual network traffic (almost none at all, actually). File checksums for all windows components are still the same. No new DLLs on the system. No record of anyone even connecting to the completely open and unprotected VNC server.
I figured after the scary story about Windows machines being infected by WannaCry in MINUTES, I could have some fun with it. But no. This machine is still sitting there perfectly fine. None of the random documents I put on it have been encrypted. No signs of infection by anything.
Sad!
Regardless this is still a sign of the US isolationism causing it to fall in status and capability despite the growing need for information security response. Expense and effectiveness are different things. The French mission in Mali has succeeded through well organized management and brought greater stability and safety to the region. It started 4 years ago and continues even now as a unilateral mission, and the French have a military budget less than 2% of their GDP. That article is about the need to increase it to 2% over a few years. With much smaller budget France maintains its own nuclear powered aircraft carrier, nuclear arsenal, and expeditionary military force fighting across multiple fronts and producing measurable gains. Largely this is through ferreting all corruption out of military procurement, and if similar efforts are made then the US could achieve comparable results for cost and do more with the same budget.