A global malware attack is making the news, affecting hospitals in the UK. Tonight on the TV the news report said Australia was not affected. Yet earlier I'd check one site recording the attacks and Both Sydney and Melbourne were on the map.
I've just read Australia's security adviser has been one confirmed incident. Given that I've attended many malware infected customers over the years, none of these have ever been report, so we can expect many more organisations will have been infected.
The malware has been called Wannacrypt or Wycrypt. The malware appears to be a spear phishing attack delivered via email as an attachment. The term 'spear' usually referred to being targeted. The malware then encrypts files and infects other computers on the network.
It appears Windows 10 users are not affected.
Microsoft has now released patches and unusually includes patches for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, which are no longer in general supported or provided with updates. The patch can be downloaded. For currently supported operating system run updates.
One person said on TV the tech guru said the only way to fix the problem is to replace the hard disk. In general this may be best option for some people, but if you're quick and switch your computer off when the infection first starts, there may be data you can recover. This has happened to one of my clients whose computer had had a couple of hundred files encrypted. All files were recovered. So if something like this starts to happen on your computer, it may be prudent to quickly switch it off.
The following article is from Microsoft and includes the link to the download for the Windows XP patch.
https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/msrc/2017/05/12/customer-guidance-for-wannacrypt-attacks/
Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
IT support.
I've just read Australia's security adviser has been one confirmed incident. Given that I've attended many malware infected customers over the years, none of these have ever been report, so we can expect many more organisations will have been infected.
The malware has been called Wannacrypt or Wycrypt. The malware appears to be a spear phishing attack delivered via email as an attachment. The term 'spear' usually referred to being targeted. The malware then encrypts files and infects other computers on the network.
It appears Windows 10 users are not affected.
Microsoft has now released patches and unusually includes patches for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, which are no longer in general supported or provided with updates. The patch can be downloaded. For currently supported operating system run updates.
One person said on TV the tech guru said the only way to fix the problem is to replace the hard disk. In general this may be best option for some people, but if you're quick and switch your computer off when the infection first starts, there may be data you can recover. This has happened to one of my clients whose computer had had a couple of hundred files encrypted. All files were recovered. So if something like this starts to happen on your computer, it may be prudent to quickly switch it off.
The following article is from Microsoft and includes the link to the download for the Windows XP patch.
https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/msrc/2017/05/12/customer-guidance-for-wannacrypt-attacks/
Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
IT support.
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