Following the news yesterday that Honda was the victim of the WannaCry ransomware, it has been reported this morning that Australian speed camera’s have also been hit.
As we know, WannaCry first hit the headlines last month after infecting systems worldwide- including the NHS. This begs the question; how are people still falling victim to this malware? Mark James – Security Specialist at ESET commented below.
Mark James, Security Specialist at ESET:
“One of the biggest problems with opportunistic malware is that it has no boundaries;it will infect anything that meets the criteria. When that criteria is a vulnerability in an operating system that had ( and still has ) such a massive uptake then realistically, it may be a case of not if but when will you be next.
Current estimates still put Windows 7 on almost 50% of all desktop operating systems, so it’s not surprising to still see machines being infected. You then need to understand how many older, bespoke systems, that are using embedded software to do a task.
Updating these systems may not be financially viable- especially if the task they perform is still being done perfectly. In a time when funds are restricted to necessity or priority, persuading someone they need to invest thousands to stop something that may or may not happen will be a difficult job.
Protecting against WannaCry in most cases, can be done by blocking TCP port 445, ensuring your operating system is patched and fully updated, and ensuring you have a good, regularly updated, multi-layered internet security product installed.”
