Good morning, Quartz readers!
No one had to click a phishing link, download a PDF, or visit a sketchy website to contract the ransomware that worked its way into 300,000 computers within a matter of hours last week. To contract the WannaCry ransomware, the only thing Windows users had to do was nothing.
By the time the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) announced on May 12 that Windows computers in 16 of its facilities had been infected with ransomware all at once, security researchers had been sounding the alarm about a Microsoft exploit called EternalBlue for weeks. It had been released a month earlier by an anonymous hacker group calling itself the Shadow Brokers, who claimed they’d stolen it from the US National Security Agency.
EternalBlue was what allowed WannaCry to spread so quickly. It preyed on Windows computers that hadn’t been updated with a security patch Microsoft released in March. Every time the software lands on an unpatched computer, it disguises itself as a legitimate Windows service—gaining full access to the filesystem—and begins scanning the internet for more vulnerable computers to copy itself onto. There is no human interaction required.
Although WannaCry was soon stopped by a 22-year-old research in the UK, who identified and triggered a kill-switch, the ransomware still managed to create global chaos. NHS doctors were locked out of patient records. Emergency rooms were forced to turn people away. A telecommunications company in Spain, a cell phone carrier in Russia, and French automaker Renault were all affected.
Out-of-date Windows computers are still vulnerable to malware that uses EternalBlue (read: check your updates). But maybe more important: That exploit was just one of many that the Shadow Brokers released in April. Experts warn there is more to come—and the next time there may not be a kill-switch.—Keith Collins
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