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Keep your computers up-to-date to get the benefits of the latest features and proactive mitigations built into the latest versions of Windows.

Microsoft Malware Detection and Removal Tools

Use the following free Microsoft tools to detect and remove this threat:

• Windows Defender – built-in to Windows 10. There’s nothing to buy and nothing to install. No configuration, no subscriptions, and no nagware
• Microsoft Safety Scanner: https://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/en-us/default.aspx?wt.mc_id=AID618806_EML_5062822

(The Microsoft Safety Scanner is a free downloadable security tool that provides on-demand scanning and helps remove viruses, spyware, and other malicious software. It works with your existing antivirus software. Note: The Microsoft Safety Scanner expires 10 days after being downloaded. To rerun a scan with the latest anti-malware definitions, download and run the Microsoft Safety Scanner again.The Microsoft Safety Scanner is not a replacement for using an antivirus software program that provides ongoing protection.)

Also view :
• Microsoft Security Response Center Blog
• Microsoft Malware Protection Center Blog
• Microsoft Safety and Security Center webpage

We recommend customers that have not yet installed the security update MS17-010 do so as soon as possible. Until you can apply the patch, we recommend two possible workarounds to reduce the attack surface:
• Disable SMBv1 with the steps documented at Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 2696547 (Reboot Required)
• Consider adding a rule on your router or firewall to block incoming SMB traffic on port 445

Windows Defender Antivirus detects this threat as Ransom:Win32/WannaCrypt as of the 1.243.297.0 update.

Enable Windows Defender Antivirus to detect this ransomware.
Windows Defender Antivirus uses cloud-based protection, to help protect you from the latest threats.

Use Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection, which has machine learning capability that blocks dangerous email threats, such as the emails carrying ransomware.

Monitor your network with Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection, which alerts security operations teams about suspicious activities.

For enterprises, use Device Guard to lock down devices and provide kernel-level virtualization-based security, allowing only trusted applications to run, effectively preventing malware from running.

A ransomware threat does not normally spread so rapidly. Threats like WannaCrypt typically leverage social engineering or emails as primary attack vector, relying on users downloading and executing a malicious payload. However, in this unique case, the ransomware perpetrators incorporated publicly-available exploit code for the patched SMB EternalBlue vulnerability, CVE-2017-0145, which can be triggered by sending a specially crafted packet to a targeted SMBv1 server.
It was fixed in security bulletin MS17-010, released on March 14, 2017.

WannaCrypt’s spreading mechanism is borrowed from well-known public SMB exploits, which armed this regular ransomware with worm-like functionalities, creating an entry vector in machines still unpatched even after the fix had become available.

The exploit code used by WannaCrypt was designed to work only against unpatched Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 (or earlier OS) systems, so Windows 10 PCs are not affected by this attack.

We haven’t found the exact initial entry vector used by this threat, but there are two scenarios that we believe are highly likely for this ransomware family:
• Arrival through social engineering emails designed to trick users to run the malware and to activate the worm-spreading functionality with the SMB exploit
• Infection through SMB exploit when an unpatched computer can be addressed in other infected machines

The threat arrives as a dropper Trojan that has the following two components:

• Ccomponent that tries to exploit the SMB EternalBlue vulnerability in other computers
• Ransomware known as WannaCrypt

The dropper tries to connect the following domain using the API InternetOpenUrlA():
hxxp://www[.]iuqerfsodp9ifjaposdfjhgosurijfaewrwergwea[.]com

When connection is successful, the threat does not infect the system further with ransomware, nor try to exploit other systems to spread; it simply stops execution. However, when the connection fails, the dropper proceeds to drop the ransomware and creates a service on the system.

Blocking the domain with firewall either at ISP or enterprise network level will just cause the ransomware to continue spreading and encrypting files.

The threat creates a service named mssecsvc2.0, whose function is to exploit the SMB vulnerability in other computers accessible from the infected system:

Service Name: mssecsvc2.0
Service Description: (Microsoft Security Center (2.0) Service)
Service Parameters: “-m security”

When run, WannaCrypt creates the following registry keys:

• HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\\ = “\tasksche.exe”
• HKLM\SOFTWARE\WanaCrypt0r\\wd = “”

It changes the wallpaper to a ransom message by modifying the following registry key:
• HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop\Wallpaper: “\@WanaDecryptor@.bmp”

It creates the following files in the malware’s working directory:

• 00000000.eky • 00000000.pky
• 00000000.res

• 274901494632976.bat
• @Please_Read_Me@.txt
• @WanaDecryptor@.bmp
• @WanaDecryptor@.exe
• b.wnry
• c.wnry
• f.wnry
• m.vbs
• msg\m_bulgarian.wnry
• msg\m_chinese (simplified).wnry
• msg\m_chinese (traditional).wnry
• msg\m_croatian.wnry
• msg\m_czech.wnry
• msg\m_danish.wnry
• msg\m_dutch.wnry
• msg\m_english.wnry
• msg\m_filipino.wnry
• msg\m_finnish.wnry
• msg\m_french.wnry
• msg\m_german.wnry
• msg\m_greek.wnry
• msg\m_indonesian.wnry
• msg\m_italian.wnry
• msg\m_japanese.wnry
• msg\m_korean.wnry
• msg\m_latvian.wnry
• msg\m_norwegian.wnry
• msg\m_polish.wnry
• msg\m_portuguese.wnry
• msg\m_romanian.wnry
• msg\m_russian.wnry
• msg\m_slovak.wnry
• msg\m_spanish.wnry
• msg\m_swedish.wnry
• msg\m_turkish.wnry
• msg\m_vietnamese.wnry
• r.wnry
• s.wnry
• t.wnry
• TaskData\Tor\libeay32.dll
• TaskData\Tor\libevent-2-0-5.dll
• TaskData\Tor\libevent_core-2-0-5.dll
• TaskData\Tor\libevent_extra-2-0-5.dll
• TaskData\Tor\libgcc_s_sjlj-1.dll
• TaskData\Tor\libssp-0.dll
• TaskData\Tor\ssleay32.dll
• TaskData\Tor\taskhsvc.exe
• TaskData\Tor\tor.exe
• TaskData\Tor\zlib1.dll
• taskdl.exe
• taskse.exe
• u.wnry

WannaCrypt may also create the following files:

• %SystemRoot%\tasksche.exe
• %SystemDrive%\intel\\tasksche.exe
• %ProgramData%\\tasksche.exe

It may create a randomly named service that has the following associated ImagePath: “cmd.exe /c “\tasksche.exe””

Then it searches the whole computer for any file with any of the following file name extensions:
.123, .jpeg , .rb , .602 , .jpg , .rtf , .doc , .js , .sch , .3dm , .jsp , .sh , .3ds , .key , .sldm , .3g2 , .lay , .sldm , .3gp , .lay6 , .sldx , .7z , .ldf , .slk , .accdb , .m3u , .sln , .aes , .m4u , .snt , .ai , .max , .sql , .ARC , .mdb , .sqlite3 , .asc , .mdf , .sqlitedb , .asf , .mid , .stc , .asm , .mkv , .std , .asp , .mml , .sti , .avi , .mov , .stw , .backup , .mp3 , .suo , .bak , .mp4 , .svg , .bat , .mpeg , .swf , .bmp , .mpg , .sxc , .brd , .msg , .sxd , .bz2 , .myd , .sxi , .c , .myi , .sxm , .cgm , .nef , .sxw , .class , .odb , .tar , .cmd , .odg , .tbk , .cpp , .odp , .tgz , .crt , .ods , .tif , .cs , .odt , .tiff , .csr , .onetoc2 , .txt , .csv , .ost , .uop , .db , .otg , .uot , .dbf , .otp , .vb , .dch , .ots , .vbs , .der” , .ott , .vcd , .dif , .p12 , .vdi , .dip , .PAQ , .vmdk , .djvu , .pas , .vmx , .docb , .pdf , .vob , .docm , .pem , .vsd , .docx , .pfx , .vsdx , .dot , .php , .wav , .dotm , .pl , .wb2 , .dotx , .png , .wk1 , .dwg , .pot , .wks , .edb , .potm , .wma , .eml , .potx , .wmv , .fla , .ppam , .xlc , .flv , .pps , .xlm , .frm , .ppsm , .xls , .gif , .ppsx , .xlsb , .gpg , .ppt , .xlsm , .gz , .pptm , .xlsx , .h , .pptx , .xlt , .hwp , .ps1 , .xltm , .ibd , .psd , .xltx , .iso , .pst , .xlw , .jar , .rar , .zip , .java , .raw

WannaCrypt encrypts all files it finds and renames them by appending “.WNCRY” to the file name. For example, if a file is named “picture.jpg”, the ransomware encrypts and renames to “picture.jpg.WNCRY”.

This ransomware also creates the file “@Please_Read_Me@.txt” in every folder where files are encrypted. The file contains the same ransom message shown in the replaced wallpaper image. After completing the encryption process, the malware deletes the volume shadow copies by running the following command:

cmd.exe /c vssadmin delete shadows /all /quiet & wmic shadowcopy delete & bcdedit /set {default} bootstatuspolicy ignoreallfailures & bcdedit /set {default} recoveryenabled no & wbadmin delete catalog -quiet

It then replaces the desktop background image with a message and also runs an executable showing a ransom note which indicates a $300 ransom and a timer. The ransomware also demonstrates the decryption capability by allowing the user to decrypt a few random files, free of charge. It then quickly reminds the user to pay the ransom to decrypt all the remaining files. The worm functionality attempts to infect unpatched Windows machines in the local network. At the same time, it also executes massive scanning on Internet IP addresses to find and infects other vulnerable computers. This activity results in large SMB traffic from the infected host, which normally can be observed by SecOps personnel.

Once a vulnerable machine is found and infected, it becomes the next hop to infect other machines. The vicious infection cycle continues as the scanning routing discovers unpatched computers. When it successfully infects a vulnerable computer, the malware runs kernel-level shellcode which seems to have been copied from the public backdoor known as DOUBLEPULSAR, but with certain adjustments to drop and execute the ransomware dropper payload, both for x86 and x64 systems.

Ransomware increased 35% last year.
More alarming is the continuing recent rise in both sophistication and the mass distribution of ransomware.

Ransomware can bring your business to a halt and cause significant financial damage.
Unlike the stealthier advanced attacks that can stay undetected on corporate network for months, the impact of ransomware is immediate and intrusive.

Cyber attackers don’t need a lot of money, resources or technical sophistication to use ransomware.

Todays headlines:
Hospitals across the country hit badly by attack
Nearly 100 countries affected
Fears of chaos over weekend
Cyber attack hits German train stations as hackers target Deutsche Bahn

Russian-linked cyber gang Shadow Brokers was blamed. It is claimed the group, which has links to Russia, stole US National Security Agency cyber tools designed to access Microsoft Windows systems, then dumped the technology on a publicly-accessible website where online criminals could access it – possibly in retaliation for America’s attack on Syria. The exploit was leaked last month as part of a trove of NSA spy tools. The ransomware locks down all the files on an infected computer and asks the computer’s administrator to pay in order to regain control of them. The ransomware, called “WannaCry,” spreads by taking advantage of a Windows vulnerability for which Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30) released a security patch for in March. .
Affected machines have six hours to pay up and every few hours the ransom goes up

The global cyber attack crippled services on Friday (yesterday) The U.K. health service faces a weekend of chaos after hackers demanding a ransom infiltrated the health service’s antiquated computer system. Operations and appointments were cancelled and ambulances diverted as up to 40 hospital trusts became infected by a “ransomware” attack demanding payment to regain access to vital medical records.
Doctors warned that the infiltration – the largest cyber attack in NHS history – could cost lives.

Medics described how computer screens were “wiped out one by one” by the attack, spread to companies and institutions worldwide, including international shipper FedEx Corp in the US, and Germany’s rail operator. Spain’s largest telecom operator, Telefónica., was also affected. Spanish authorities confirmed the ransomware is spreading through the vulnerability, called “EternalBlue,” and advised people to patch.

Helsinki based Security software maker Avast said they had observed 57,000 infections in 99 countries with Russia, Ukraine and Taiwan the top targets. Megafon, a Russian telecommunications company, was hit by the attack

The ransomware is automatically scanning for computers it can infect, whenever it loads itself onto a new machine. It can infect other computers on the same wireless network. It has a ‘hunter’ module, which seeks out PCs on internal networks, so, if your laptop is infected and you go to a coffee shop, then it will spread to PCs at the coffee shop and from there, to other companies.

The sad part of the NHS tale is that Microsoft provided free software to protect computers in March, which raises questions about why the NHS was still vulnerable. it seems that many trusts were using obsolete systems, while others failed to apply recent security updates. Indeed This there are estimates that 90 per cent of NHS trusts in the UK are still using Windows XP – a now unsupported, 16-year-old operating system., introduced before 2007 which is particularly vulnerable,

Unknown attackers deployed a virus targeting Microsoft servers running the file sharing protocol Server Message Block (SMB). Only servers that weren’t updated after March 14 with the MS17-010 patch were affected; this patch resolved an exploit known as ExternalBlue, once a closely guarded secret of the National Security Agent, which was leaked last month by ShadowBrokers, a hacker group that first revealed itself last summer. The ransomware, aptly named WannaCry, did not spread because of people clicking on bad links. The only way to prevent this attack was to have already installed the update.

Through the ExternalBlue exploit, the malware installed an NSA backdoor payload called DoublePulsar, and through it went WannaCry, which then spread rapidly and automatically to other computers on the same network.“Whereas ransomware such as Locky normally requires user interaction, such as opening a word document, WannaCry has the capability to spread automatically. Thankfully a weakness in the method of propagation has allowed researchers to take control of a piece of attacker infrastructure and limit new infections— otherwise it could have been even worse.

Microsoft said yesterday that it is pushing out automatic Windows updates to defend clients from WannaCry.

What is ransomware
?Malicious software that locks a device, such as a computer, tablet or smartphone and then demands a ransom to unlock it

Where did ransomware originate?
The first documented case appeared in 2005 in the United States, but quickly spread around the world

How does it affect a computer?
The software is normally contained within an attachment to an email that masquerades as something innocent. Once opened it encrypts the hard drive, making it impossible to access or retrieve anything stored on there – such as photographs, documents or music

How can you protect yourself?
Anti-virus software can protect your machine, although cybercriminals are constantly working on new ways to override such protection

How much are victims expected to pay?
The ransom demanded varies. Victims of a 2014 attack in the UK were charged £500. However, there’s no guarantee that paying will get your data back.
If you think you might be vulnerable to WannaCry, or you don’t remember installing any updates over the past month, then your first step is to address that issue immediately.

This is the most critical Windows patch since [Conficker], which was one the largest similar infections to date.
Despite having been patch nearly a decade ago, the Conficker worm is still in circulation which you find everywhere. WannaCry, too, is going to be on networks for years.

The importance of downloading and installing security updates (as opposed to just clicking “remind me tomorrow” for several weeks in a row) cannot be overstated.

Just ask the patients of the 16 hospitals in England whose delay in care could have been easily avoided