In 2017, over a hundred countries by the WannaCry virus. It primarily affected Russia and Ukraine. At that time, computers running Windows 7 and server versions were impacted. Windows 8, 8.1, and 10's built-in antivirus managed to neutralize WannaCry. The malware itself was a ransomware that demanded payment for access to data.
Currently, nothing has been heard from it, but Microsoft decided to err on the side of caution and released critical patches for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. These two systems have been unsupported for quite some time, but the company deemed the vulnerability serious enough to publish a fix. Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2008 R2 had also previously received critical updates.
According to Simon Pope from Microsoft, this vulnerability could have been by other viruses to spread within corporate networks. However, the company has yet to find examples of other viruses exploiting the vulnerability. Nevertheless, there are still many computers worldwide running XP, so in the event of a new attack, the damage could be enormous. Moreover, the virus is still active.
It should be noted that support for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 has ended, so updates will need to be and installed manually. The complete list of systems receiving updates is as follows:
- Windows XP SP3 x86;
- Windows XP Professional x64 Edition SP2;
- Windows XP Embedded SP3 x86;
- Windows Server 2003 SP2 x86;
- Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition SP2.
Source: 3dnews.ru
