Hacking tools were stolen from NSA - Almost all Windows affected

simrick said:

Next will be critical infrastructures, like nuclear plants. Just wait.

We have a saying: don't call a devil. Nevertheless, critical infrastructure is different animal. Critical processes themselves are separated from other networks, or not connected at all. They all learned a lot from Stux stuff destroying plants in Iran.

Other infrastructure is vulnerable, thou. Everything is getting automated and remotely controlled.

AndreTen said:

We have a saying: don't call a devil. Nevertheless, critical infrastructure is different animal. Critical processes themselves are separated from other networks, or not connected at all. They all learned a lot from Stux stuff destroying plants in Iran.

Other infrastructure is vulnerable, thou. Everything is getting automated and remotely controlled.

True, but all it takes is an infected flash drive....

simrick said:

True, but all it takes is an infected flash drive....

No flash drives in there

Further info to the NHS disruptions:

CHESHIRE and Wirral Partnership NHS Trust has confirmed that it is ‘experiencing significant IT disruptions’ as it fights against a nationwide cyber-attack on the NHS.
It is believed that as many as 45 NHS organisations in the UK are under a ‘cyber-attack’ and Cheshire and Wirral Partnership has confirmed that it is one of the organisations experiencing ‘IT disruption’.
A statement from Cheshire and Wirral Partnership said: "CWP are currently experiencing significant IT disruptions as reported nationally.

simrick said:

If it holds your computer hostage, it's a form of ransomware - whether it encrypts or not.
The answer is to disconnect from the internet, use Task Manager to kill the browser process, and run Ccleaner on the browsers, clearing out everything.

simrick, I got a bogus email telling me iobit.com had shut down my account due to malpractise or something - I didnt touch it but copied it to iobit. They said it was ransomware and to 'spam' it which I did first! $300 was the 'fee' - like hell!

elbmek said:

simrick, I got a bogus email telling me iobit.com had shut down my account due to malpractise or something - I didnt touch it but copied it to iobit. They said it was ransomware and to 'spam' it which I did first! $300 was the 'fee' - like hell!

You are smart to be wary of these emails - so may people are not! :)
The only sure way to recover from a ransomware attack is with backups - and so many people do not make them on a regular basis, or even at all.

I get the occasional E Mail with either a voice message or a Fed Ex package on the way, & that I need to click on the link for them to ship it. Checking out the sites which the E Mails send me to (Not going there, just jotting down the website & Googling it) brings up warnings saying this site may be/is compromised. One of them turned out to be a schools web page. A couple went to sites that were advertising services, but it wouldn't surprise me if they had hidden macro codes for a fly by infection.

That "package in transition we need more info" scam has been going on for some time now, so if you get something that looks like it's from a shipping company, if you didn't order anything, don't click. Even if you did, check the link to see where it really leads to. Most of those company's give you a tracking # & you can look it up anytime on their site.

elbmek said:

simrick, I got a bogus email telling me iobit.com had shut down my account due to malpractise or something - I didnt touch it but copied it to iobit. They said it was ransomware and to 'spam' it which I did first! $300 was the 'fee' - like hell!

Curiosity question, Elbmek . . . Do you use your computer for any type business?

Borg 386 said:

I get the occasional E Mail with either a voice message or a Fed Ex package on the way, & that I need to click on the link for them to ship it. Checking out the sites which the E Mails send me to (Not going there, just jotting down the website & Googling it) brings up warnings saying this site may be/is compromised. One of them turned out to be a schools web page. A couple went to sites that were advertising services, but it wouldn't surprise me if they had hidden macro codes for a fly by infection.

That "package in transition we need more info" scam has been going on for some time now, so if you get something that looks like it's from a shipping company, if you didn't order anything, don't click. Even if you did, check the link to see where it really leads to. Most of those company's give you a tracking # & you can look it up anytime on their site.

I've been getting those FedEx scam emails for some time. I never, never, never click on them, since I know what I'm expecting (or not expecting) at any given email . . . I also look at the return email addy, and it's always some gobbledegook no one could remotely expect to be from FedEx!