14 DAY TRIAL // Eugene Kaspersky has one issue with the WannaCry ransomware attack that has taken over the world in the past week - why are so many people still using Windows XP?!
"I can't understand why they still use Windows XP because if they have hundreds or thousands of PCs it's very expensive to handle all of that," Kaspersky Lab boss said, baffled by the entire situation.
He added that it's much easier to prevent these types of attacks for small businesses than for enterprises. "They just have to have their updated systems, they have to have their backups, and they have to have security solutions - and that's good enough," Kaspersky told ZDNet reporters present at the event.
Things are a lot more complicated, however, when it comes to larger enterprises, especially given the number of systems working on XP in the wild. That's because, in order to replace old systems, you need proper budgets and to afford the downtime. "At the same time there are many systems that are certified to Windows XP, so they can't change it - they can't update the certificates," Kaspersky said, adding that he understands the complexity of the issue.
WannaCry and its legacy
When WannaCry hit, it was obvious there was a problem with the systems that were most vulnerable. Microsoft went out of its way and released patches not only for the versions it still supports but also for Windows XP, which was discontinued a while back. It was believed that Windows XP systems would be the bulk of those infected by WannaCry, but the reality showed a different story. Researchers revealed that, in fact, Windows 7 users had been hit the most by this ransomware.
Hopefully, people will continue to update their systems in order to patch up the vulnerability that was being exploited by WannaCry, especially given the number of samples found in the wild, as well as the other threats out there that are just waiting to make use of the same SMB problem, such as EternalRocks, which makes use of 7 NSA hacking tools.