New global ransomware attack hits East Europe and spreading

Steve C said:

Great post 89 by Hydrate! I disabled NetBios as suggested. I also see you can disable NetBIOS via the TCP settings fro the network adapter. which is the best approach?

I use Kaspersky Total Security and tried disabling the ports in KTS. However, video streaming from BBC iPlayer stops as soon as I disable port 137. It seems disabling these ports is not a good idea for me. It would be useful to know what these ports are used for so people can decide whether to disable them.

This is an awesome discussion! so lively and rich!

When you block the settings at the adapter level, this is known as reducing your attack surface.



I suggest using Windows Firewall for BBC iPlayer and add an outbound inbound exception (rules can be overridden) for it while still adding the rules so the program can work. I do not depend on 3rd party paid software to do my bidding normally, but you should add the rules to Kaspersky and WF (I love Kaspersky).

According to: Port 137 (tcp/udp) :: SpeedGuide

Which is accurate.

137	tcp,udp		NetBIOS NetBIOS Name Service (official)	Wikipedia
137	tcp	trojan	Chode, Nimda	Trojans
137	udp	trojan	Bugbear, Msinit, Opaserv, Qaz	Trojans
137	tcp,udp	netbios-ns	NETBIOS Name Service	IANA
137	tcp	Chode	[trojan] Chode	Neophasis
137	tcp	Qaz	[trojan] Qaz	Neophasis
137	udp	Msinit	[trojan] Msinit	Neophasis
137	udp	threat	Femot	Bekkoame
137	udp	threat	Msinit	Bekkoame
137	tcp	threat	Chode	Bekkoame

The NetBIOS Name Service is sent outbound from svchost.exe and is used by a numerous amount of malware, now including Petya.
It translate human readable names to IP addresses for IPv4 and is can be used across multiple protocols, however it may be safely disabled if you do not explicit use NetBIOS.

Steve C said:

I know how to block Ports in Kaspersky Total Security but I can't work out how to add an exception for sites like BBC iPlayer. Any ideas?

My idea would be to simply remove the firewall rules made in Kaspersky and stick to Windows Firewall, add the normal blocking rule and add a outbound inbound rule for the .exe of BBC iPlayer with overriding allowed.

Steve C said:

It's OK now. I was putting the port number in the remote port box instead of the local port box!

There are no oopsies in the corporate IT world. Only pink slips.

Jk, that's fine. It's important to configure correctly as it just defeats the whole purpose sometimes, such as in this case! I'm happy you caught the error.