New Windows Vulnerability Emerges The World Could Face Another WannaCry shop online with credit card number only no cvv, buying fullz
The danger of malware, and ransomware, in particular, is greater than ever. Those in need of proof need only remember the desperate situation that the entire world had to endure back in 2017 when WannaCry infected the entire world over the course of a single weekend. More than 100 countries were affected, with hundreds of thousands of computers falling victim to the sneaky virus.
WannaCry attacked anyone and anything it could
reach, from carmakers in France to railways in Germany. From Indian ATMs to
Russian banks, and particularly the UK hospitals. It even hit a mall in
Singapore. After the crisis had passed, all that remained was billions of
dollars worth of damage on a global level.
Now, the world finds itself in a similar
danger once again, only this time — the number of infected devices could
potentially surge by as many as five times, or more, resulting in over a
million infected devices.
The new danger comes due to a newly-discovered
Windows vulnerability, which could see another global ransomware attack.
Luckily, Microsoft identified the danger early on, and it issued a patch, but
there are still those who did not apply it to their devices, and could still be
in danger.
Researchers have taken to calling the new vulnerability
BlueKeep. The flaw can be found in Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Protocol, which
is a tool that allows users to access their systems remotely. Most Windows
versions, apart from Windows 8 and 10, are at risk, including Windows XP,
Windows 7, Windows Vista, as well as Windows Server 2008.
Researchers have confirmed that the
vulnerability can be used by hackers who want to break into other peoples’
systems, and even execute codes, including keyloggers, as well as ransomware.
Furthermore, the flaw is also wormable, which means that it can be used for
spreading malware among other vulnerable devices.
The flaw was discovered earlier this year by
the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre, which alerted Microsoft, and gave it
time to create a patch. Microsoft then revealed the flaw to the public back in May,
after releasing the said patch.
Despite the fact that the patch has been out
for nearly two months now, there are still around one million systems that have not
applied it. This puts them all at risk, especially now, when hackers know of
the flaw as well. Entire corporations could be at risk, as even some of the
largest firms out there often neglect their security, and ignore updates and
patches.
The danger is massive, and it has experts
around the world alarmed. Even the US’ NSA, as well as the Department
of Homeland Security, have
issued a warning in regards to the flaw. Australian Cyber Security Centre did the same,
and so did the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre .
Meanwhile, Microsoft itself published several warnings, even going as far as to
release a patch for Windows XP — a system so old that it barely sees any
updates these days.
At this point, the situation looks quite grim.
There are more than a few similarities to the situation prior to WannaCry
attack, where a vulnerability known as EternalBlue was discovered. Despite the
patches being issued, many ignored them, and later became victims of the
ransomware. Now, the history is repeating itself, and over a million devices
remain unsecured.
So far, there were no reports of attacks that
use BlueKeep flaw as part of their attacks. However, researchers believe that
it is only a matter of time before the reports start piling up. One security
firm, known as GreyNoise, reported that unknown entities are using anonymous
browser Tor for scanning the internet for unpatched systems.
Some companies, such as McAfee Antivirus, and even the US
Department of Homeland Security , have already created
Proof-of-Concept exploits for the flaw. They confirmed that the vulnerability
could be exploited in a malware attack.
The fact is that not only home computers are
in danger, but also those used by businesses, whether small or large. It is
high time that the world takes this issue seriously and secure their devices —
or ransom messages might start appearing on their computer screens once more.
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