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Turns Out Microsoft Has Already Patched Exploits Leaked By Shadow Brokers
The Hacker News ^ | Friday, April 14, 2017 | Swati Khandelwal

Posted on 04/15/2017 7:43:23 AM PDT by rarestia

The latest dump of hacking tools allegedly belonged to the NSA is believed to be the most damaging release by the Shadow Brokers till the date.

But after analyzing the disclosed exploits, Microsoft security team says most of the windows vulnerabilities exploited by these hacking tools, including EternalBlue, EternalChampion, EternalSynergy, EternalRomance and others, are already patched in the last month's Patch Tuesday update.

"Most of the exploits that were disclosed fall into vulnerabilities that are already patched in our supported products. Customers still running prior versions of these products are encouraged to upgrade to a supported offering," Microsoft Security Team said in a blog post published today.

On Good Friday, the Shadow Brokers released a massive trove of Windows hacking tools allegedly stolen from NSA that works against almost all versions of Windows, from Windows 2000 and XP to Windows 7 and 8, and their server-side variants such as Server 2000, 2003, 2008, 2008 R2 and 2012, except Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016.

The hacking exploits could give nearly anyone with technical knowledge the ability to break into millions of Windows computers and servers all over the Internet, but those which are not up-to-date.

"Of the three remaining exploits, “EnglishmanDentist”, “EsteemAudit”, and “ExplodingCan”, none reproduces on supported platforms, which means that customers running Windows 7 and more recent versions of Windows or Exchange 2010 and newer versions of Exchange are not at risk." Microsoft says.

The data dump also includes some top-secret presentations and excel sheets, indicating that the leaked exploits may have been used to hack the SWIFT banking system of several banks across the world.

(Excerpt) Read more at thehackernews.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: hacking; microsoft; nsa; security; updates; windows
At the bottom of the article, this bears repeating:

So, only those who are still using Windows XP, which Microsoft doesn't support for very long, are at risk of getting their machines hacked.

And there is no need to panic if you use updated Windows 7, 8 or 10 (or even Windows Vista, whose support ended just last week and the issue was patched last month).

The simple advice for you is to always keep your Windows machines and servers up-to-date in order to prevent yourself from being hacked.

Emphasis mine.

If you're still using XP, good luck!

1 posted on 04/15/2017 7:43:23 AM PDT by rarestia
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To: Swordmaker; dayglored

Ping to the lists of interest


2 posted on 04/15/2017 7:43:41 AM PDT by rarestia (Repeal the 17th Amendment and ratify Article the First to give the power back to the people!)
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To: rarestia

Yet I buy a new computer STUCK with Windows 10 and the FIRST time it upgrades itself I can’t get the SOB out of a 1 minute sleep cycle. I have been all over the boards about it and NONE of their crap works to fix it.

I’d like to get my hands on one of them little human factors and software engineering shits and wring his/her damn neck.


3 posted on 04/15/2017 7:51:04 AM PDT by Gaffer
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To: rarestia

Windows 10 creators update https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPFbAqICUJo


4 posted on 04/15/2017 8:12:45 AM PDT by butlerweave
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To: rarestia

I updated to Win 10 day it came out, all my company computers use it, and as far as I know, sakes as my friends. No problems. Microsoft has a vested interest to make sure their product is secure, so whether complete or not, it will likely be good enough. Apple likewise but I suspect less because they have not been target, nor as many around the world. Keep your updates current and skip the worry. BTW, while I have tried Norton/Symantec and others, I always yank them as what Microstructure builds in is good enough.


5 posted on 04/15/2017 8:13:23 AM PDT by Reno89519 (Drain the Swamp is not party specific. Lyn' Ted is still a liar, Good riddance to him.)
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To: Reno89519

And I hate Safari autocorrect on an iPad. At least it didn’t change the wording to grossly.


6 posted on 04/15/2017 8:15:08 AM PDT by Reno89519 (Drain the Swamp is not party specific. Lyn' Ted is still a liar, Good riddance to him.)
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To: rarestia

I suppose you still want to keep the automatic updates turned off.


7 posted on 04/15/2017 8:16:07 AM PDT by mountainlion (Live well for those that did not make it back.)
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To: rarestia

This is good to know.


8 posted on 04/15/2017 8:46:24 AM PDT by McGruff (You break it, you bought it)
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To: Gaffer
Right click on desktop > Display Settings > Power and sleep (5th item down on left side)

Should provide a screen with the following:

Screen

When plugged in, turn off after

Drop down window, select never

Sleep

When plugged in, PC goes to sleep after

Drop down window, select never

Below that click on additional power settings

Under Preferred plans

Make sure radio button for Balanced (recommended) is selected

That is how mine are set. Let me know if that works for you. Also might have to restart your puter (not sure).

9 posted on 04/15/2017 8:51:21 AM PDT by Robert DeLong
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To: Robert DeLong

Thank you. I have everything set as you say but the last part. Radio button set on balanced, because everything I see/saw was power management and not “radio”..

I’ve seen all the videos about 6 ways to fix this, going to REGEDIT and tracing down to some attributes file and switching from 1 to 2 and over and over and over. None of it works.

But the ‘balanced’ thing I haven’t hit upon yet. I will try it.


10 posted on 04/15/2017 8:55:28 AM PDT by Gaffer
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To: Gaffer
Are you running a laptop using external keyboard and mouse, and waking from the external device?

If so you might try this:

1. Click on the windows icon
2. Type regedit
3. Right-click on regedit icon, click Run as administrator
4. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\PowerSettings\238C9FA8-0AAD-41ED-83F4-97BE242C8F20\7bc4a2f9-d8fc-4469-b07b-33eb785aaca0
5. Double click on Attributes
6. Enter number 2.
7. Go to Advanced power settings (click on Windows button, write power options, click on Power Options, in the selected plan click on the Change plan settings, click on the Change advanced power settings).
8. Click on the Change settings that are currently unavailable
9. Click Sleep, then System unattended sleep timeout, then change these settings from 2 Minutes to 20 for example.
That's it!

SOURCE

11 posted on 04/15/2017 9:00:57 AM PDT by Robert DeLong
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To: Robert DeLong

Thank you, but I short-cut the description of the REGEDIT “1 and 2” thing. It, as I tried it, is exactly what you posted and it did not work.

I will try the “balanced” thing, however.


12 posted on 04/15/2017 9:03:25 AM PDT by Gaffer
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To: rarestia

My son says to to take this with a hefty dose of skepticism.


13 posted on 04/15/2017 9:05:31 AM PDT by Bookwoman (...and I am unanimous in this...")
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To: Robert DeLong
1. Click on the windows icon

For this I would right click on the windows icon (start menu) and select Command Prompt (Admin)

14 posted on 04/15/2017 9:06:15 AM PDT by Robert DeLong
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To: Gaffer

All I know is that my PC never sleeps, and those are my settings.


15 posted on 04/15/2017 9:19:07 AM PDT by Robert DeLong
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To: butlerweave

#4 I did the update. Windows 10 now added infinite colors to change the look of the title bars, background etc. They also took away any font size changing in points. You have to zoom 100%, 125% etc. Anything in between is not recommended.


16 posted on 04/15/2017 11:01:56 AM PDT by minnesota_bound
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