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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.
Windows updates stopped working on my Windows 7 machine about September last year and nothing except for a complete reinstall seems to get it working again - neither Microsoft repair tools, nor 3rd party tools, nothing. It just rolls back every update as failed for almost a year, and I guess I'm not the only one with this problem. So of course the latest patches are not installed.
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
If a patch was released months ago, why did so many people not install it?
What doesn't get reported often enough is that pirated versions of Windows cannot be patched
Actually, yes they can.
and most of the infected computers were running pirated versions.
Alright... you just completely made that up, didn't you?
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.
This is one of the reasons that Microsoft set Windows Update to be automatic in Windows 10. It makes the OS much safer and generally makes the internet safer as a whole.
Citation needed. I have seen many Windows updates that cause Windows to completely fail to start. This may mean you need to completely reinstall the OS, which is time-consuming and may leave you open to infection the whole time.
If you have used Windows for any length at all, you are quite familiar with the ritual of "download!" "reboot!" "download some more!" "reboot!" (repeat while cursing, gnashing your teeth, ripping your hair out and wailing).
Someone wrote an automated tool to install all KB's to fix Windows Update for Win 7:
https://answers.microsoft.com/...
Worked on all 3 machines I used it on, in various WU states (endless loop, failing to install).
Same reasons as always. Lazy and incompetent IT staff at corporations, low knowledge techies that disable Windows Update, long beards who only install certain updates manually after reading the associated KB article and self-determining whether or not they need an update. This is one of the reasons that Microsoft set Windows Update to be automatic in Windows 10. It makes the OS much safer and generally makes the internet safer as a whole.
And if they put in a safe, encased the safe in concrete and dumped it at the bottom of the ocean it'd be even safer. Not very user-friendly though, neither is the force-feeding of random feature updates at inconvenient times. They could have had a category for "Security bulletins and critical updates" that contained only tiny, to-the-point patches for exploits and other big malfunctions, no feature upgrades, no license checks, no trivial extras just the absolute minimum no sane user should disable and 99% of this problem would go away. I'm happy running an OS from 2009. Before that I was running an OS from 2001. I don't need feature updates twice a year and particularly not GUI makeovers.
I realize though that having a zillion combination of patches might be a pain to support, so here's what I'd like to have seen:
1. Microsoft releases version A. You can either stay on stable branch A or get rolling updates A*.
2. After 4 years Microsoft takes the current setup, calls it B. You now have three supported configurations A, B, B*.
3. After 8 years Microsoft takes the current setup, calls it C. You now have four supported configurations A, B, C and C*.
4. After 10 years support for A ends, before that you should migrate to B, C or C*.
From there they'd just bounce between 3-4 supported configurations of N-2, N-1, N and N*.
Most importantly still regardless of when it's updated everything should come with an off switch. I don't mind if Microsoft asks for telemetry. I have a problem with Microsoft demanding telemetry. It's like my car dealer refusing to service the car unless I've kept a log of how I've used it. I could almost live with that if you had to find some obscure setting only 0.01% would turn off. But it's when you deny me that choice this smells really foul. Not that I expect Microsoft to do anything really ugly until most people are on Win10 and can't disable the updates.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
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.