looks like the world is being attacked by a very serious Ransomware virus.

so far UK, US, China, Russia, Spain and many more data's being hold to Ransom. its called WannaCry. and affects windows computers.

The infections seem to be deployed via a worm - a program that spreads by itself between computers.

Most other malicious programmes rely on humans to spread by tricking them into clicking on an attachment harbouring the attack code.

By contrast, once WannaCry is inside an organisation it will hunt down vulnerable machines and infect them too.

Some experts say the attack may have been built to exploit a weakness in Microsoft systems that had been identified by the NSA and given the name EternalBlue.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-39901382

 

[The Catboy]

Sounds pretty rough for Windows users :^}

 

[gnmmarechal]

Because I'm intimidated by it, because Linux requires so many commands to get drivers working, because nVidia and Linux don't exactly get along. Most of the games and apps I have wouldn't even work.

You're intimidated by it therefore won't learn it? That only means you won't ever not be intimidated by it. If you learned it, however, you'd be able to make use of it as the powerful tool/skill that it is.

 

[VinsCool]

Sounds pretty rough for Windows users :^}

They just have to learn to not run random .exe from emails. The problem is that Windows does exactly what the users tell it to do. Run malicious .exe? sure, let's spread the virus now!

 

[sarkwalvein]

Whatever floats you boat.
I think if something is useful yet intimidating, it feels even better to take upon the challenge.
As long as there are things one can challenge themselves to do, one still feels alive.
But again, I should STFU because I don't want to be preachy.

 

[the_randomizer]

You're intimidated by it therefore won't learn it? That only means you won't ever not be intimidated by it. If you learned it, however, you'd be able to make use of it as the powerful tool/skill that it is.

I still stand by the hardware driver conflict horror stories with nVidia and Linux, and no, I'm not buying and AMD GPU. Then there's compatibility, it's a turnoff, 95% of what I use wouldn't even work on Linux. Source Filmmaker, most of the Steam games, the list goes on. A deal breaker.

 

[Garblant]

Windows is strange, sometimes they add awesome stuff (staring to become rare) and other times they add stuff that annoy users. For example, by default Windows 10 will preinstall recommended applications. It would be a non-issue of it weren't for the fact that not all of the apps on their app store are safe (not even the recommended apps are safe from this).

There's also the problem that Windows (in general) is the most targeted OS due to how many people use it...

(But I'm not even going to go on to that)

 

[Deleted User]

Yeah, 5%, not a fan of VMs to be honest, most of the Steam games I have wouldn't work, nor would Source Filmmaker, no thanks. Not to mention I use nVidia, Linux drivers for nVidia are absolute shite. CLI is still something I refuse to learn.

Maybe it's just me, but I've found Nvidia drivers to be better than AMD drivers in some cases.

 

[Pleng]

They just have to learn to not run random .exe from emails. The problem is that Windows does exactly what the users tell it to do. Run malicious .exe? sure, let's spread the virus now!

Except, no.
Once this virus is on one machine on a network it can spread itself to *all* vulnerable computers without any user interaction. Therefore it only takes 1 user in an organisation to fall for the original scam to affect everyone else.

 

[grossaffe]

Yeah, 5%, not a fan of VMs to be honest, most of the Steam games I have wouldn't work, nor would Source Filmmaker, no thanks. Not to mention I use nVidia, Linux drivers for nVidia are absolute shite. CLI is still something I refuse to learn.

Wine is not a VM. It's a compatibility layer that translates Windows system calls into equivalent Linux system calls. If you're curious about supported games/applications: https://appdb.winehq.org/

Also, despite Torvalds' hatred for nVidia, I've had no problems using their drivers; AMD was the one that historically had a sketchy record with drivers, though they've completely revamped their Linux drivers and seem to be turning a corner there. And in Ubuntu, you can install the graphics drivers straight from the GUI from the Additional Drivers menu.

edit: here's Source Filmmaker in WineHQ. https://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=application&iId=14335

 

[DeslotlCL]

So, what does exactly the virus do? I was reading about this on another page and i thought it was pure bullshit from those exaggerating fake news sites

 

[Pluupy]

My local DMV recently updated from OSX to Windows XP lmao.

 

[DeoNaught]

My local DMV recently updated from OSX to Windows XP lmao.

i like how you call that updated

 

[nl255]

Even worse, there is a way to get updated security patches for XP (until 2019) but they couldn't even be bothered to push the simple registry modification required.

 

[Kioku]

Even worse, there is a way to get updated security patches for XP (until 2019) but they couldn't even be bothered to push the simple registry modification required.

Why would anyone want to? As it stands, there's no reason to be on XP aside from being stubborn and adamantly using outdated programs.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

You're intimidated by it therefore won't learn it? That only means you won't ever not be intimidated by it. If you learned it, however, you'd be able to make use of it as the powerful tool/skill that it is.

Even though it's not practical for a fairly decent chunk of computer owners. Unless you have to specifically have it or can live with its short comings... Linux isn't worth it. There, I said it. Fight me.

 

[MionissNio]

I don't know about people but I haven't had any virus since I have been using Windows 8.1 and onwards, still better safe than sorry I'll use Remix OS for my needs.

Hopefully Microsoft dies finally and gets replaced by a new holy Grail OS.

 

[Vipera]

there's also the matter of support as many programs designed for older OSes like XP will have all kinds of unexpected bugs crop up under 7 or 10 (as has happened in my company, repeatedly).

You can still pay Microsoft to get security patches to older software like 2000 or XP like many ATM companies do. For regular work, it's still cheaper to upgrade to 10 though.

 

[Patxinco]

Wow, i work in a campsite, we have wifi, and the clients we have could be idiots enough to spread de virus to anyone, i'm gonna have to talk to my boss and tell him to disconnect, at last, the one computer that makes bridge between clients wifi, and work stations, if not, this could be a massacre...

Edit: Just finished reading the article someone posted, the vulnerability was patched by microsoft on March, if it's updated, it shoudn't be a problem.

 

[EthanAddict]

I use Arch Linux... so, YOU UNLUCKY PLEBS LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLO

 

[Taleweaver]

As unpleasant as it may be, I understand my company's view on not staying up to date. The reason: we've got over a couple hundred client computers, located all over the country in over a fifty different locations. ICT was always the department where funds had to be cut, but while considering the circumstances a (IMHO) pretty impressive job was done, the fact remains that with just a handful of people there is no way to keep everything patched or up to date. Quite often, it's even impossible, because some departments need specific programs that were made by external neanderthals in the stone age, and any sudden change (say...upgrade the machine to one that uses more than a single CPU core) causes unforeseen problems that can apparently only be solved by throwing money at the neanderthals. Which is usually done, as those programs are what holds the universe from exploding in a supernova. It's also very time consuming for ICT, meaning we can't spend that time on things like decent security or upgrading our users from "dolts with computers" to "guys with enough basic PC knowledge to update windows from time to time".
It still happens that someone comes in with an old windows XP machine. Luckily my lobbying and prediction skills are strong enough to have up-to-date PC's to swap them with, but this really isn't a company policy (and there's no way to ensure that there aren't computers running a proverbial windows 3.11 out there in the wild).

 

[Greymane]

The last time i had ransomware (pc,windows) it had a laughable weakness, now i am curious if this one has it to, most likely not though.