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Microsoft Will Disable WannaCry Attack Vector SMBv1 Starting This Fall (bleepingcomputer.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Starting this fall, with the public launch of the next major Windows 10 update — codenamed Redstone 3 -- Microsoft plans to disable SMBv1 in most versions of the Windows operating systems. SMBv1 is a three-decades-old file sharing protocol that Microsoft has continued to ship "enabled by default" with all Windows OS versions.

The protocol got a lot of attention recently as it was the main infection vector for the WannaCry ransomware. Microsoft officially confirmed Tuesday that it will not ship SMBv1 with the Fall Creators Update. This change will affect only users performing clean installs, and will not be shipped as an update. This means Microsoft decision will not affect existing Windows installations, where SMBv1 might be part of a critical system.

2 of 73 comments (clear)

  1. Problem is not the age of the protocol by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 5, Interesting
    30 year old protocols are not ipso facto bad.

    What is bad is not upgrading the security of a protocol that is ON by default for 30 years.

    Let us take something equally ancient on the unix side, like the Xwindows. Is it on by default in linux? Does it suck as much as SMBv1 in terms of security? What kind of security enhancements have gone into each protocol over these three decades?

    I don't know which one is better, but that will give us a sense of how much blame to heap on Microsoft.

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    1. Re:Problem is not the age of the protocol by chipschap · · Score: 2, Interesting

      30 year old protocols are not ipso facto bad.

      What is bad is not upgrading the security of a protocol that is ON by default for 30 years.

      Let us take something equally ancient on the unix side, like the Xwindows. Is it on by default in linux? Does it suck as much as SMBv1 in terms of security? What kind of security enhancements have gone into each protocol over these three decades?

      I don't know which one is better, but that will give us a sense of how much blame to heap on Microsoft.

      No. It will give us a sense of how much blame to heap on Xwindows. The fact that there are potentially bad practices going on elsewhere doesn't excuse them.