Just days after monthly Patch Tuesday release, Microsoft issued an emergency update to provide a patch to unsupported Windows XP and Windows 8 machines following last week’s global ransomware campaign.
On Friday, an international ransomware attack began affecting computers worldwide, with more than 230,000 computers in 150 countries falling victim. The attackers behind the viral cyber assault leveraged the EternalBlue exploit previously leaked by the ShadownBrokers in April.
Allegedly developed by the National Security Agency, the hacking tool exploits a Windows SNBv1 flaw patched by Microsoft in March, according to a report by Threat Post. Shortly after the attack spread, the Microsoft team worked to further protect its customers.
“Seeing businesses and individuals affected by cyberattacks, such as the ones reported today, was painful,” the company said in a blog post which outlines steps that customers should take to stay protected. “We are taking the highly unusual step of providing a security update for all customers to protect Windows platforms that are in custom support only, including Windows XP, Window 8, and Windows Server 2003.”
