Are you ready for the next cyberattack? (Yes. “Next.”)
We’re still getting information in on what happened with last week’s “ransomware.” Admittedly, we have had to reorganize our thinking on what went wrong. We know there are vulnerabilities to older operating systems (OS) software (apps). When we first got news of this, Friday, we couldn’t figure out why it was most adversely affecting Asia and those attacked in North America were literally recovering in minutes. Over the weekend we learned that this had no affect on users of Apple macOS or Microsoft Windows 10, operating systems announced roughly two years ago. It’s been reported that users of the much older Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8 are exclusively affected by the most recent cyberattack. When we first saw that we thought, “Windows XP? That goes back around 16 years? Vista was 11 years ago? Who still has that?” We’re now learning that much of these operating systems were pirated copies distributed in countries which have not signed onto the International copyright treaties. Other enterprise and individual legal users chose not to upgrade. The more we explored this (and data on this will be pouring in for weeks), we’re seeing how the huge and effective security machines at Adobe, Apple, and Microsoft obviously have a difficult time protecting the users, who work at devices which have stolen versions of their products. (Microsoft has been reaching out to everyone they can, on the current issue.) We are aware that older versions of Adobe’s Acrobat, Reader, and Flash Player are backdoors for hackers. We see Adobe security updates coming through frequently. And, we always do those free updates. OS updates from Apple and Microsoft are free downloads. Adobe Acrobat Reader and Adobe Flash Player are free downloads, too. But, here’s the trick. With the free Adobe stuff: on the Mac side you have to have at least OS 10.9, introduced in 2013. Adobe is more generous in supporting older Windows systems. But, there are many users who have PDF readers which are not from Adobe, some of which came with their pirated OS. Apple and Microsoft cannot support things forever. There are technical compatibility issues, which could cause problems for the users Adobe, Apple, and Microsoft are trying to assist. So, it’s not as if those companies are casting off unprofitable users. Realistically, those companies can only offer support so many years backwards. We also understand that there are many good honest people out there who work for companies, in (hopefully) far away lands, where they have no idea that they are laboring over employer-provided stolen products.
So, what’s the call to action?
Do the right thing. First, make an honest effort to get up to date. It’s cheaper than having your world being held hostage. Next, discourage people from using those non-Adobe readers and players. Get the real thing. They’re free. Finally, install the regular updates. They’re free too.
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