Like Yogi Berra said “It aint over ’til it’s over” and Shadow Brokers is at it again!

Friday’s ransomware attack was stopped by a 22 year old British lad, but in less than 48 hours, Shadow Brokers appears to have modified its virus and released it again in a new version.

Microsoft released an update/patch to block the original threat, (even extending the protection to systems running XP which Microsoft abandoned 3 years ago) but it is currently unclear whether that will be sufficient to defeat this new threat.

This new attack surprised no one and was entirely expected by the cyber-security industry.

Here’s the catch. Neither Microsoft nor any of the companies that create anti-malware programs can really do much until the new threat has been detected and analyzed. They are always playing “catch-up”. That’s the way the world works, plain and simple.

Estimates of the damage range from 100,000 to 200,000 computers, ranging from giant corporations to home computers, in at least 150 countries.

The crisis has affected hospitals (20% of Britain’s National Health Service), manufacturing companies (including Nissan in the UK and Renault in France) and telecom companies in Europe and South America.

Monday is expected to be ugly. Really ugly.

In the interest of efficiancy, I will post future updates on www.webfactory-online.com instead of sending out emails. You’ll find the posts at the bottom of every page.

Links:

http://money.cnn.com/2017/05/14/technology/microsoft-urgent-action-ransomware-cyberattack/

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/world/92574937/experts-brace-for-unstoppable-ransomware

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/businesses-brace-monday-ransomware-threat-lingers-081052025–finance.html

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/15/ransomware-attack-like-having-a-tomahawk-missile-stolen-says-microsoft-boss