MS17-010 patches a flaw in the SMB protocol that allows it to be utilized to spread an infection faster. With the vulnerability present, an attack can spread very quickly across a network. With the protocol patched, the attack would be localized to a machine. Couple that with SMB1.0 being enabled on most Windows machine, and an attack can be devastating.
I’m not sure in what world you live where ransomware programs don’t need privileged access, but that’s exactly how they’re initiated. A seemingly innocuous file is executed in a Windows environment, and yes, if you’re a local administrator on your system, you elevate that program to allow it to run. If, however, you follow best practices and turn UAC to max and set yourself with a non-administrative user to do common tasks, that infection isn’t going to be able to execute without you typing in the administrator password at least once.
Microsoft systems are not inherently insecure. The user makes it so. That’s not to say that Microsoft couldn’t do better to inform users that they should run everything with a standard user account, but less than 5 minutes of searching the Internet yields dozens of sites with walkthroughs on how to do exactly that. Yes, Apple devices do that from the get go, and if you have the patience for Linux, you learn quickly that elevating with sudo is the only way to get anything done. Microsoft operating environments can be run the exact same way and are just as secure as anything Apple or Linux has out there.
And while I know I’m not going to convince you on anything, your rambling screed indicates your absolute disgust with Microsoft as an entity, I will say that I’ve been using Microsoft operating systems for over 20 years and have never once had a virus infect my system. The bulk of that 20 years went without antivirus protection as well. Your ire is misdirected at the operating system when in reality it’s the user base that’s the problem in a majority of cases.
“when in reality it’s the user base that’s the problem in a majority of cases.”
perfect. blame it on the folks who buy the product. and that really sums it up nicely. and it’s pretty much why people are fleeing windows by the millions. the average person just wants a product that works to do a few simple tasks, which is why they’re using Android and iOS, i.e., pretty much ANYTHING BUT MICROSOFT products.
sO if one gets an email, one htat doesn’t have an attachemnt, and clicks a link in it- that goes to a site that doesn’t have autmatic download that runs- one can’t be infected with anything?
Going back to my original post that was deleted- we got an email from a friend that said simply ‘thanks- got the message, please check out such and such a site- and it had a link- clicked the link, and it brought us to a Ukrainian website (didn’t notice the .ua in the link- apparently it was from Ukraine site- the page was blank except for some random stupid message on top that would update to a new one l ine random message if the page was refreshed-
Is there any need to be worried about a page like that? nothign was autodownloaded- no warnigns popped up- and i’ve run the link through basic online link scanners that showed htere was nothing nefarious on the site uspposedly