As of now, IBS has received no reports of customer organizations being impacted by WannaCry ransomware infections. We continue to monitor WannaCry activity but on Friday night security researchers found an internal “kill switch” within the source code of the malware, thereby disabling it from propagating any further. The kill switch is a temporary fix and will not prevent variants of WannaCry or other malware from infecting vulnerable systems.
Many of the systems impacted around the world appear to be older versions of Windows. These include end-of-life versions of Windows operating systems (XP, 2003, etc.). IBS has worked with many clients to ensure that these older versions of Windows have been upgraded or isolated from exposure to these types of infections. On Saturday, Microsoft released patches for those end-of-life operating systems. IBS is ready to assist any client organization to apply these patches to relevant systems, if necessary.
There are many lessons to be learned from this outbreak – none more so than the need to reinforce fundamental security practices including:
– Establishing cyber-security training for all staff,
– Maintaining current patch levels on all system,
– Retiring end-of-life systems, i.e. Windows XP and Server 2003,
– Establishing incident response plans,
– And, ensuring current business continuity plans are in place.
IBS stands ready to assist you in ensuring these steps have been taken within your organization. This “ransomware” outbreak is using tools developed by the NSA, which makes it extremely powerful and cutting edge. While the initial attack was stopped through a stroke of dumb luck, experts are predicting that the next variation is coming and coming soon. It is important to understand that legacy anti-virus software does NOT keep you safe from this type of attack.
Call us today so we can keep this threat out of your network. Time is of the essence. Please contact us ASAP to discuss next steps in cyber-security.