Bitdefender’s advanced detection technologies have blocked WannaCry from the very beginning

You might have already heard that a new family of ransomware called WannaCry has infected over 140,000 Windows systems worldwide over the weekend. This piece of ransomware encrypts files on the infected PCs and demands ransom in exchange for the service of decrypting the data.

Your smart home might as well include at least one Windows system and as this ongoing outbreak is affecting countless computer users around the world, it is imperative that you keep your entire smart ecosystem safe. In order to do this, use security software such as Bitdefender and make sure to get the latest patches from Microsoft.

Bitdefender’s advanced detection capabilities based on next-generation technologiess were able to intercept this threat since its emergence keeping our Bitdefender customers’ information safe all the time.

Here is a little background information about this new threat

The WannaCry is a particular interesting ransomware because it is based on EternalBlue, a zero-day exploit that helps it jump from one infected computer to another and encrypt all the information stored on it. For more details about this vulnerability, click here.

Unlike other ransomware families, the WannaCry strain does not spread via infected e-mails or infected links. Instead, it takes advantage of a security hole in most Windows versions to automatically execute itself on the victim PC. According to various reports, this attack avenue has been developed by the National Security Agency (NSA) in the US as a cyber-weapon and it was leaked to the public earlier in April along with other classified data allegedly stolen from the agency.

Until now, a number of hospitals, telecom companies or gas and utilities plants have suffered massive disruptions caused by data being held at ransom.

What you can do to stay protected?

Disable the Server Message Block service on the computer if patching is impossible.

Install the patch

Back up your data on offline hard drives. The ransomware malware will encrypt files on external drives such as a USB thumb drive, as well as any network or cloud file stores

Patch and Update your software and make sure you have all Windows updates on your machine.

Use a reputable security suite https://www.av-comparatives.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/avc_factsheet2017_03.pdf