Apply Windows security patch NOW!

[John T Smith]

If you use Windows (not a Mac) make sure you have all updates applied NOW!

http://fox59.com/2017/05/14/the-latest-100000-groups-in-150-nations-hit-by-cyberattack/

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-39913630

[John T Smith]

Hardware crashes or virus infections or simple software problems happen, so you should buy AND USE software to make a full backup of your hard drive to an external USB hard drive... plus, making step-by-step backups during a new setup or major program addition makes it easy to go back a step if something doesn't work

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This backup and then restore is, of course, only to the same computer with a new drive (or the same drive as long as you don't mind writing over everything) since doing a restore to a new computer won't work due to Windows and many programs having activation information that is keyed to your hardware (which is why Windows will force you to RE-Activate if you change very much hardware)

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The product I bought and use is at http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/image-for-linux.htm

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Image runs off of a bootable CD via Linux (the Zip you download includes a program to make the bootable CD) and it reads EVERYTHING on the drive, even the hidden registration information, so everything is restored when needed... and you may not only restore the image over a messed up install, you may restore to a brand new drive in case of a hardware crash, and not have to re-install anything (it DOES have to be an identical drive)

[John T Smith]

Now, Microsoft is directly saying that the problem was due to code stolen from the NSA

Microsoft blames US stockpiled vulnerability for ransomware attack | PCWorld

[Ussnorway]

for what its worth Microsoft did patch this hole back in MARCH of 2017 but of course thats great for systems still running XP (like most medical) ... I'm sure some gov-systems will upgrade now and thats the point of all this anyway.

[gener7]

Microsoft has issued a patch for older systems including  XP

Customer Guidance for WannaCrypt attacks – MSRC

[Nancy OShea]

Windows Defender had the patch for this 6 mos ago.  What does that say about the victims?

[gener7]

I always wondered why some including the medical community stays with XP. Seems upgrading isn't trivial.

Changing systems is also means new drivers for hardware being supported by newer os. So change may also mean having to change not only the pc but also medical diagnostic tools built on the xp platform.

[Nancy OShea]

A lot of Govt agencies are also tied to XP systems to support internal apps.

PC Matic protects XP systems. $50 a year for 5 PCs.

https://www.pcmatic.com/

[gener7]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Nancy+OShea  wrote

A lot of Govt agencies are also tied to XP systems to support internal apps.

PC Matic protects XP systems. $50 a year for 5 PCs.

https://www.pcmatic.com/

Agreed, Nancy. Some of these places are hospitals and can ill afford disruptions. If their IT Staff is not up to the task, outsourcing to someone reliable as in your example would do the trick.

If they had IT staff that neglected to patch, they need to be held accountable.

[Ussnorway]

yes its hard to feel very sorry for them... GOD knows what over virus and malware these systems are storing as well