The government has advised the public to take care when opening emails in view of Friday’s global WANNACRY ransomware attack, and that they should upgrade their operating systems to MS17-010 in order to protect data.
The ransomware is spread first via e-mail utilising malicious software that encrypts all accessible data (local and network) and then tries to spread laterally, exploiting technical vulnerabilities. In this case, this is a newly discovered Microsoft vulnerability. However, an update for this vulnerability is available.
The government recommends vigilance concerning suspicious emails, and advises the public not top open mails from people they don’t know and not to open attachments. Companies should warn their employees about the dangers.
The government adds that users should be sure to back-up important data, and to not expose these back-ups to an out-of-band backup network.
Finally, the government strongly recommends upgrading to MS17-010.
Details can be found on the Microsoft website: https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/msrc/2017/05/12/customer-guidance-for-wannacrypt-attacks/
Follow the instructions of CIRCL: https://circl.lu/pub/tr-41/
