'Windows users were asked to download and install the recommended updates and keep their system up to date in order to safeguard their system against series of bugs that were revealed by some NSA spies. The exploits were supposed to be stolen from the National Security Agency (NSA) by Shadow Brokers Group which reported about the Bug last week.
What is the bug revealed by NSA insiders?
The NSA actually tries to make use of these exploits to attack the PCs that were running on an older version of Windows like XP and Vista. The Shadow group which leaked the details of the bug has also reported about the tools that NSA uses to take control of SWIFT, a financial network that is used for online money transfers.
However, Microsoft reported that patches for most of these bugs were released already in the March month update and all the PCs that have the latest version of the Windows need not worry about these exploits. They also warned the users to make sure that their systems are up to date and install the latest updates if they failed to do.
In one of their blog posts, Microsoft stated “Security against most of these vulnerabilities were provided in prior along with the March update and hence all those users who have installed the latest security update need not worry about these exploits. We recommend the users to make sure that their systems are up to date with the latest version of the Windows.”
What if the users have an older version of Windows?
All those users who are still using the older version of the Windows in their PC like XP and Vista which Microsoft no longer supports are at risk.
Microsoft said that it has released security patches only for those systems that run Windows 7 or later version. Also, the users must make sure that they are using Exchange 2010 or beyond in their system as the company does not provide protection to those who are using an older version of Exchange.
Microsoft in their official blog has said, “Customers who are using an older version of these products are advised to switch over to the latest ones that are supported by the company.”
Therefore the bug leak which was feared by many security researchers would create a hike in the number of cybercriminal attack on the Windows PC was taken care by Microsoft prior to the bug release.
While many security experts reported that NSA insiders or Shadow group would have informed Microsoft about this security problem prior to the leak, Microsoft denied getting any such information from them.
