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Almost All WannaCry Victims Were Running Windows 7 (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: According to data released today by Kaspersky Lab, roughly 98 percent of the computers affected by the ransomware were running some version of Windows 7, with less than one in a thousand running Windows XP. 2008 R2 Server clients were also hit hard, making up just over 1 percent of infections. Windows 7 is still by far the most common version of Windows, running on roughly four times as many computers as Windows 10 worldwide. Since more recent versions of Windows aren't vulnerable to WannaCry, it makes sense that most of the infections would hit computers running 7. Still, the stark disparity emphasizes how small of a role Windows XP seems to have played in spreading the infection, despite early concerns about the outdated operating system. The new figures also bear on the debate over Microsoft's patching practices, which generated significant criticism in the wake of the attack. Microsoft had released a public patch for Windows 7 months before the attack, but the patch for Windows XP was only released as an emergency measure after the worst of the damage had been done. The patch was available earlier to paying Custom Support customers, but most XP users were left vulnerable, each unpatched computer a potential vector to spread the ransomware further. Still, Kaspersky's figures suggest that unpatched XP devices played a relatively small role in the spread of the ransomware.
If MS hadn't tried to force Win10 down Win7 user's throats maybe more would have been installing patches.
Monocropping leads to viruses whether agricultural or operating systems. Not much more to be said than that other than to point out Intels are the ultimate monocrop and they have a gigantic backdoor called the Management Engine.
In the age of global terrorism, one can expect engineered viruses for agriculture and computers to only increase till something we can't get past comes along. then we'll act in hindsight.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
MS wanted everybody on Windows 7 to upgrade to Win10 pronto - so they got someone to write Wannacry and release it into the wild. =)
Why did the chicken cross the road? Because Elon Musk put an AI chip in its head.
Generally you are pwned in that way if you're connecting your PC directly to the internet with no hardware firewall or router which I suspect is pretty rare. Other than setting your router to DMZ mode (which might as well be called "PLEASE HACK ME" mode) as long as you have a router you generally don't get hacked that way. Typically the user has to initiate some action that gets them hacked, though it can be as innocent as opening an e-mail or loading a website they trust. I would say as long as you don't really start to use the internet until your patches are up to date the risk is pretty low.
That said you should keep up with patches in the first place. Windows does it for you and there's usually never a good reason to stop it.
[Citation required]
Editor, A1-AAA AmeriCaptions
Which was all nice and dandy until Microsoft decided to ram Windows 10 down everyones throats. I can fully understand the annoyed users who simply disabled Windows Update because of those nasty practices on the part of Microsoft. Trust is easily lost and hard to regain.
The truth may be out there, but lies are inside your head
That said you should keep up with patches in the first place. Windows does it for you and there's usually never a good reason to stop it.
Until recently, I'd agree. But how many people turned off updates during the "free" Windows 10 thing? That in it's self damn near felt like there was a virus on your computer. Then there's the telemetry update that got added to Windows 7. Anyone who didn't want that also had to turn off automatic download and install of updates.
You need a citation that security updates make a computer safer?
You can prove that there is less virus activity because of Windows 10.
All said, a lot of people turned off Windows 7 updates just because Microsoft loaded Windows 10 on their machines without permission. A lot of people got mysterious blank windows that would install Windows ten with a pretty tenuous definition of "permission".
Microsoft's insidious practice of trying to ram W10 down peoples gullets, with an interface they didn't like and telemetry they didn't want, and update and security they didn't want, and when the best way to avoid the assault on your property was to turn off updates....
Sorry, but a lot of us are of the opinion that Windows 10, rather than make the internet safe, when coupled with Microsoft's heavy handed intrusion on people - set up the situation of both disabling updates, and disabling migration to Windows 10.
Which in turn, helped enable this problem.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.