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Microsoft has issued a critical Windows update to older machines to prevent a vulnerability which could allow attacks to spread in a similar way to WannaCry.
The computing giant has taken the drastic and unusual step of providing a fix to systems it no longer supports, including Windows XP – its popular operating system released almost 18 years ago.
Microsoft says the vulnerability affects a part of the Remote Desktop Services feature on some previous versions of Windows, which could allow devastating malware attacks to pass from vulnerable computer to vulnerable computer, as WannaCry did.
WannaCry notably hit parts of the NHS in May 2017, disrupting 80 trusts across England alone because they were either infected by the ransomware or had turned off their devices or systems as a precaution.
[Update: The official Microsoft announcement should have been included in the story. Please be aware this warning applies only to older version of Windows; Windows 8 and 10 are not affected. (Hat tip to user "All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us") --martyb]
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by Runaway1956 on Thursday May 16 2019, @04:34PM (2 children)
Win95 was obsolete BEFORE WinXP was released. You should have upgraded to Win2K when you had the chance.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 16 2019, @08:43PM (1 child)
Nah, the upgrade from 95 was to 98SE, just about everything worked better. We still have a large format scanner-copier (and fax) that is connected to a Win98SE Thinkpad. Not used too often, but works great when needed.
It's not connected to the internet, sneakernet only for transferring the 11"x17" scans.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 17 2019, @08:15AM
Just a reminder that the air gap method only works so far. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuxnet [wikipedia.org]