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No Known Ransomware Works Against Windows 10 S, Says Microsoft (betanews.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: According to Microsoft, "no Windows 10 customers were known to be compromised by the recent WannaCry (WannaCrypt) global cyberattack." That's great news for anyone running the latest version of the OS, and the software giant says it is working to ensure Windows 10 remains safe from other future attacks. However, if you want to guarantee your safety from ransomware, then Microsoft points out there's an even more secure option to consider -- Windows 10 S. The new, hardened Windows 10 variant only runs apps from the Windows Store, which means it can't run programs from outside Microsoft's ecosystem, and that includes malware. Which is why, as Microsoft says, "No known ransomware works against Windows 10 S."
Jailbroken and rooted phones say otherwise.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
None of the applications I regularly use are supported on Win10 S, so I guess it's as useless for me as it is for the ransomware developers.....
I believe the correct response to this is "Challenge Accepted".
"They redundantly repeated themselves over and over again incessantly without end ad infinitum" -- ibid.
Also, no known useful software works on Windows 10 S either. Quite the tradeoff.
Before you scoff at this as random trolling, think about what the odds are that Adobe, Autocad, and any real software packages are going to take a 30% haircut required by the MS store to run on this turkey. Sure MS programs will be there but Steam worn't be, nor will much else useful other than a sub-section of Windows Phone apps.
But no malware as of today will run. They said the same thing about Windows 8.x upon release. And Windows 7, and.....
"Challenge accepted!" -PLA Unit 61398, Fancy Bear, Bureau 121
Because the amount of software that works on Windows 10 S bites syphilitic camel wang.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
S for S*** Commodore 64 was not affected either.
No known ransomware works on a TURD, either.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
It's called Windows Update
No ransomware works on Windows 10S ...because nobody uses it.
READY.
PRINT ""+-0
Known is the key word here. It's not the problems you know about, it's the ones you don't that get you.
Maybe we'll get lucky and the malware writers find a bunch of "Install Anything" exploits on Windows S.
-=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
If the S version is supposedly better, why offer a $50 "upgrade" to the less secure non-S version? You can't have it both ways. Either you own your walled garden or you accept your open platform. You can't offer an upgrade to a version you're claiming is superior.
Moreover, they're basically arguing that their software is more secure because it's hobbled by design. A rock is similarly secure against WannaCry, but that doesn't mean it's actually useful for everyday computing tasks.
... this is like Alberta claiming they "don't have any rats" LOL
Windows 10S is the ransomware.
That's easy when No Known Software Works In Windows 10 S. Time will tell. However if no malware breaks into Windows 10 S in the future, will this end up being the most secure OS to run on the desktop?
Australian running a company that does C# / C++ / Java / SQL / Python / Mathematica
I tried to convert back to Windows 7, but none of the tools would do that for me.
Just kidding. I never changed to Windows 10 in the first place
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I've yet to encounter any ransomware on my stone tablets either. And the charge lasts a damn long time. I'm not sure when they were plugged in last, it was before I was born and I haven't had to charge them yet. They are kind of old, so a little dim to use in in the dark, but I never have issues with them being washed out in the sun, and there's never any glare on the screen. Plus they are fairly durable. I dropped large plate of spaghetti with tomato sauce on one, so I powered it down and put it in the dishwasher on light wash and it was as good as new the next day.
Windows 10 S is clearly a push into the education market: but google has has had Chrome For Education for several years now: and the big advantage of Chrome Management Console (CMC) is it being active directory in the cloud done right. CMC makes it super easy to lock down, manage and update education targeted computers (it's also great for digital signage) /.ers have a comparison of the two systems.
I haven't used Azure AD, so it would be interesting if any
Apple had an awesome opportunity here after they created a whole new locked to a store OS niche, but never capitalised on it by giving schools the tools to manage the platform.
Now the only reason PC's are still selling, are office and legacy programs. Think custom business programs written in .NET and specialised CAD/CAM software. MS have lost the first mover advantage to chrome, and I doubt this move will get it back.
46137
"No known ransomware works against Windows 10 S."
Until the moment ransomware gets snuck into the Windows Store. Which, if it hasn't happened already, will probably be next Thursday.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Surely you mean the Windows (S)hit Store?
#DeleteFacebook
Microsoft has invested in technology to avoid knowing any thing about malware, ransomware etc. So it will not know any ransomware ever. So, for ever, it can honestly say, "No ransomware known to me will work in Windows 10"
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
to change everybody's mind.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
i am sure some clever hacker will make you eat those words, and win_10 will be dinner for the black_hats until you make a fix, but like with all your 20+ years of history with windows software it is always playing catch-up with the latest vulnerability
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
Of course, all it takes is a change to the terms and conditions, and suddenly they're not allowed any more.
This is Microsoft, FFS. You'd be safer sticking your head in a grizzly bear's mouth than trusting Microsoft not to kick you out of their ecosystem once they've hooked everyone into it.
Macs can dual boot. I'm sure there is at least one mac user who had WannaCry hit their Windows version, and it encrypted the data files on their OSX partition.
Your ad here. Ask me how!
W10 S.
not windows 10.. the whole point is that it can only run sw from the appstore.
unless you jailbreak it or whatever. or just write malware for the browser.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Jailbroken and rooted phones say otherwise.
But jail-breaking and rooting, that's not "ransomwear".
In any case there are significant differences between the phone OS and the desktop OS, just because they both share the same basic name doesn't mean one hack works on the other
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
"No known ransomware works against Windows 10 S."
Read: "No one can compete with us on our home turf."
Microsoft also stupidly assumes that no zero-day exploit could ever rootkit the OS, whereupon it can execute any program it wants. Why do I say stupidly? Because in the last year alone, four exploits have done exactly this with Edge, which runs on Windows 10 S.
MS likes to invite trouble??!!
The dangers of excessive individualism are nothing compared to the oppressiveness of excessive collectivism
FTFY
"Challenge accepted" ....said the 12 year old Lithuanian kid in his mom's basement. Expect ReallyWannaCry S Edition in weeks.
Pretty much by default, if software is known to be ransomware, Microsoft will remove it from the store. Thus, no known ransomware is on the store.
It's the unknown stuff that's the problem. It won't be known until after the timebomb has been released and the damage is done.
Gotta love word salad and technicalities.
Malware is a business. For the same reason there is no malware working on some obscure NeXT clone OS, it doesn't work on Windows 10S: Why bother writing malware for a system nobody uses?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
With other malware I'd agree, with ransomware this isn't the case. Ransomware doesn't actually require any elevated permissions, that's what makes it so successful. What does ransomware want to access? Local files in the user storage space. I.e. exactly the files that the user needs to be able to manipulate in his every day business. It needn't install a service, it needn't create files in non-user spaces, it has no reason to write into the registry.
What ransomware needs to do, and I agree with you on that ground, is to run software from an "odd" place, like the download directory, the temp directory or the user directory, i.e. from places where there should be no executable file in a normal work environment. That can be dealt with via software policies and execution prevention of software from places other than whitelisted directories where executables are stored.
At least as long as you don't have some harebrained copy protection mechanism that does some unpacking to /tmp to run from there.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Or just get their appstore to do the malware distribution for you.
Or do you really think MS will check more about your software than whether its revenue stream is flowing?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
you can browse the web right? because it has the edge browser (you know, the most secure browser of the big 3).
sure, edge might run in a container or something similar, and those are secure, right?
better read up on the last pwn2own - https://arstechnica.com/securi...
On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.
They made sure that no known *software* will run on Windows 10 S, so obviously Wannacry won't run.
The next generation of Wannacry though, is another story. Someone just has to use a fraudulent code signing certificate or whatever else Microsoft does with their store apps, or somehow masquerades as another application, and we're back to status quo.
Having an operating system that just works with applications that they pre-approved, and nothing else is a terrible idea. They tried this with Windows RT, look where they are now?
Microsoft tried this successfully with Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. Apple tried this successfully with iPod classic 5, iPhone 3G, iPod touch 2, and iPad. Sony tried this successfully with PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 4. Nintendo tried this successfully with NES, Super NES, Nintendo 64, Nintendo GameCube, Wii, and (so far) Nintendo Switch. Nintendo also tried it with Wii U, but that platform was less successful for reasons other than the lockdown.
So how did these other locked down platforms succeed where Windows Phone 7, Windows Phone 8, and Windows RT failed?
What does ransomware want to access? Local files in the user storage space. I.e. exactly the files that the user needs to be able to manipulate in his every day business.
The user's everyday business needs to access files that the user chose through the operating system's file chooser form. Ransomware, by contrast, needs to access the user's entire home directory. This is why modern sandboxed environments, such as OLPC Bitfrost, the Mac App Store Sandbox, and UWP, lock applications out of any file or directory that the user hasn't chosen through a file chooser form requested by that application.
What ransomware needs to do, and I agree with you on that ground, is to run software from an "odd" place, like the download directory, the temp directory or the user directory, i.e. from places where there should be no executable file in a normal work environment. That can be dealt with via software policies and execution prevention of software from places other than whitelisted directories where executables are stored.
Then watch ransomware install itself to Visual Studio's temporary directory, where executables are supposed to be stored during the normal course of operation. This is why Microsoft won't be able to bring Visual Studio to Windows 10 S.
The old wipe-and-Linux won't work if Windows 10 S devices come with Restricted Boot, which means UEFI Secure Boot that a device's owner cannot reconfigure. Microsoft licensed Windows RT only to OEMs who promised to configure all Windows RT devices with Restricted Boot.
Even without Restricted Boot, wipe-and-Linux will fail if manufacturers of components of said devices fail to cooperate with driver developers. You'll likely end up with unaccelerated graphics, no audio, no network, and no suspend.
Whichever M$ employee who wrote that press release will be looking for a new job when the "Challenge accepted" group goes berserk to prove him wrong. And they give the reason that M$ needed to be taught a lesson (again).
Anyone looking for a cheap ex-M$ marketing person?
Does Chromium, the build of Chrome with all non-free parts stripped out, also log keys?
Of course, Microsoft doesn't know right now of existing malware that exploits an Edge vulnerability and works as ransomware, so they're correct in saying no known ransomware works.
I'd be worried about unknown ransomware, but that's me.
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
TFA isn't clear on whether this is a Microsoft statement, or their own, but it seems to say that ransomware won't work simply because it won't run on the OS without being signed.
Assuming that Microsoft is perfect in keeping malware out of their store,and there's no other way to get executable code in, this is true.
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
But there is another way to get executable code in, namely through exploits like the SMBv1 vulnerability that wannacrypt used, or the three Edge exploits found at the last pwn2own event.
If you get executable code in that way, then signing is irrelevant, and so is the MS store. Sure, wannacrypt was written like shit and had to download its own executable separately, but a good hacker should be able to inject a proper malware payload.