On Friday, the hacker group known as The Shadow Brokers released a trove of Windows exploits. But Microsoft says it has already issued patches for the majority of attacks, and the most recent fix came last month.

"Most of the exploits that were disclosed fall into vulnerabilities that are already patched in our supported products," a blog post published Friday night by Microsoft reads.

Broadly, the exploits could have allowed a hacker to compromise affected computers on a variety of Windows versions.

For example, the ERRATICGOPHER attack was addressed prior to the release of Windows Vista, and ETERNALCHAMPION was fixed with two other previously disclosed vulnerabilities, according to the blog post.

ETERNALBLUE, ETERNALROMANCE, and ETERNALSYNERGY were all patched on March 14, according to a Microsoft Security Bulletin.

Microsoft did not patch three other exploits, ENGLISHMANDENTIST, ESTEEMAUDIT, and EXPLODINGCAN, ostensibly because the attacks could not be reproduced on supported systems—that is, modern versions of Windows that Microsoft still issues updates for. Microsoft says customers using Windows 7 or above are not at risk.

"Customers still running prior versions of these products are encouraged to upgrade to a supported offering," the Microsoft blog post added.

Interestingly before the March 14 patch, vulnerabilities related to several ETERNAL exploits also affected Windows 10, according to the Microsoft Security Bulletin. But, again, a fully up to date copy of Windows 10 will not be vulnerable.

Originally, it was believed that many of these exploits were so-called zero-days; exploits that took advantage of vulnerabilities that Microsoft was not aware of. Security researchers verified that many of the exploits did work against Windows systems.

However, it turns out that at least one of the researchers did not test the exploits against a fully up to date Windows machine, and crucially, not on one that included the March 14 patch.

Matthew Hickey, otherwise known as Hacker Fantastic and the co-founder of British cybersecurity firm Hacker House, told Motherboard on Saturday he had used a "clean install" of Windows to test the attacks. Meaning that the machine didn't include the latest security fixes, and led to erroneous results.

It's pretty much always a good idea to keep your computer's operating system fully up to date, especially when news of critical security issues comes to light.</s>This is really bad, in about an hour or so any attacker can download simple toolkit to hack into Microsoft based computers around the globe. — Hacker Fantastic (@hackerfantastic) April 14, 2017 WINDOWS 10 does not appear impacted by ETERNALBLUE or ETERNAL exploit series in my lab test. — Hacker Fantastic (@hackerfantastic) April 14, 2017

Releasing this information ahead of a holiday weekend may make it harder for Microsoft and IT workers to respond, as anyone with bad intentions now has access to a number of previously unknown exploits. As security researchers like Matthew Hickey (aka @hackerfantastic) scan through tools with names like ETERNALBLUE (a remote exploit for XP and above) and FUZZBUNCH (a framework that helps control use of the other attacks), Marcy Wheeler notes that the NSA has known these tools were out there since January, when The Shadow Brokers listed them for sale.

Lost in Translation — Steemit https://t.co/OH5UexWJsG enjoy! — theshadowbrokers (@shadowbrokerss) April 14, 2017

For now, the response from a Microsoft spokesperson is that "We are reviewing the report and will take the necessary actions to protect our customers."

So what is there to do if you're not a network admin and just use a Windows computer, whether at work or at home? In a quote to Motherboard, one hacker said to have formerly worked for the Department of Defense says plainly that "It's not safe to run an internet-facing Windows box right now."

Of course, your PC is -- or should be -- behind a router/firewall. I spoke to Travis Smith, a Senior Security Research Engineer at Tripwire, and he explained that for the tools released, they largely rely on local network protocols that attackers use to move from one compromised PC to others across a network. As he put it "even if you aren't running the latest greatest operating system and you don't have antivirus, if your Windows laptop isn't plugged directly into the internet, then your risk profile greatly diminishes." If you do have an antivirus, like Microsoft's Windows Defender, or products from McAfee, Kaspersky and the like, they should update quickly to recognize these executables now that they're known.

Contacted via email, Matthew Hickey expressed a similar outlook, saying that "most home users will not be directly impacted by these vulnerabilities as an attacker needs to connect to services on their computer. The risk is much bigger to enterprise and businesses who rely on these services to connect online."

Now that these 0days are public, disabling SMB might work as a workaround security patch on #Windows https://t.co/m13iFZdVTF #EquationGroup — x0rz (@x0rz) April 14, 2017 @GossiTheDog You are people, Kev!



Worth noting that every version of Windows since Vista has SMB server svc blocked inbound by firewall by default also — Ned Pyle (@NerdPyle) April 14, 2017 For folks at home, this isn't a big deal. Install the Windows Updates when Windows Update says "install me!". But you should do that anyway. — Pwn All The Things (@pwnallthethings) April 14, 2017 @JukesSitus No SMB, no remote desktop, and not sure if that's enough. These should not be reachable from Internet, but could rip through institutions. — Nicholas Weaver (@ncweaver) April 14, 2017

Here is a video showing ETERNALBLUE being used to compromise a Windows 2008 R2 SP1 x64 host in under 120 seconds with FUZZBUNCH #0day ;-) pic.twitter.com/I9aUF530fU — Hacker Fantastic (@hackerfantastic) April 14, 2017

No matter what software you're running though, making sure you're up to date with the latest patches will be one of the best things you can do to defend yourself. Also, as Travis explains, it's possible the code could eventually be modified to attack newer systems including Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016, but that will likely take more than a couple of days. Even if remote exploits or a worm don't arise from the use of these tools, now that they're out in the wild they could still be delivered by the web, email or even a USB stick. Matthew closed out his email by noting that "Microsoft will need to release fixes for several of the ETERNAL exploits and customers should ensure they apply them as soon as available."</s>With the release of latest firmware update, Microsoft officially ended the software support for the company's 2006 series Vista OS from this month.

This does not surprise many, as Mozilla Firefox and Google, last year had actually announced to end support for their respective apps -- browser and Gmail -- running on Microsoft's decade-old Vista OS, in late 2017.

Also read: All you need to know about Microsoft Windows 10 Creators Update

What will happen when Microsoft ends support for Windows Vista OS?

End of support means Microsoft is no longer obligated to provide automatic fixes, updates, or online technical assistance.

That's not all. Without Microsoft support, you will no longer receive security updates that can help protect your PC from harmful viruses, spyware, and other malicious software that can steal your personal information.

If you are still using Windows Vista on your PC, it is advisable to move on to the next version Windows 7 (Service Pack 1) or leap jump to the latest Windows 10 to avoid disruption in PC operation.

Will you upgrade to Windows 7 or go for Windows 10?

To help you make the decision easy, we have grouped all the information related to Microsoft Windows OS versions' mainstream and extended support timeline.

Windows 7*: Support for Windows 7 RTM (without service packs) ended on April 9, 2013. You have to upgrade to Service Pack 1.

For those unaware, 'end of mainstream support' means that users are no longer eligible to claim any warranty and Microsoft will no longer accept any request for change in UI design and new features. It will also not provide any non-security fixes unless the OS version has extended support.

As far as the 'end of extended support' is concerned, Microsoft will completely end all the assistance to the software. Be it a glitch or emergence security loophole, you cannot claim for fix from Microsoft, similar to what just happened to the Windows Vista.

Considering the fact that Windows 7's end of support is less than three years away and Windows 8 series has an unappealing user-interface, we recommend Windows Vista users to swiftly move to the latest Windows 10 series, as Microsoft guarantees technical assistance, including security patches till 2025. On top of that, it also supports all the latest Xbox compatible games as well.

Also read: Microsoft Windows 10: The 10 things you need to know about Microsofts new operating system</s>Microsoft said it has already patched vulnerabilities revealed in Friday’s high-profile leak of suspected U.S. National Security Agency spying tools, meaning customers should be protected if they’ve kept their software up-to-date.

Friday’s leak caused concern in the security community. The spying tools include about 20 exploits designed to hack into old versions of Windows, such as Windows XP and Windows Server 2008.

However, Microsoft said several patches -- one of which was made only last month -- address the vulnerabilities.

“Our engineers have investigated the disclosed exploits, and most of the exploits are already patched,” the company said in a blog post late on Friday.

Three of the exploits found in the leak have not been patched but do not work on platforms that Microsoft currently supports, such as Window 7 or later and Exchange 2010 or later.

“Customers still running prior versions of these products are encouraged to upgrade to a supported offering,” the company said.

Matthew Hickey, director of security firm Hacker House, has looked over the leaks and agrees with Microsoft’s assessment.

He advises that businesses, which often delay patches for operational purposes, move quickly to install the Microsoft fixes to mission critical servers. Hickey demonstrated in a video that one of the exploits in the leak can easily trigger remote code execution in a machine running Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1.

The patch, MS17-010, addresses the exploit. Microsoft issued the fix last month, but it’s unclear how the company learned of the security issue.

“Microsoft doesn't credit anyone for the report behind the March patch,” tweeted former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. He wonders whether the NSA tipped off Microsoft.

Friday’s high-profile leak was the latest disclosure from a mysterious group known as the Shadow Brokers. The group has been posting files suspected to originate from the NSA since last August.

Security experts say Friday's disclosure is probably another blow to the U.S. spy agency. The Shadow Brokers have also warned they have more files to release.</s>No operating system lasts forever, as evidenced by Windows Vista reaching the end of its support life cycle just the other day. That’s probably well understood by most computer users, but some might be surprised to learn that even an operating system that’s officially supported can still have its options limited.

Such is the case with Windows 7 and 8.1, which are still receiving either extended or mainstream support from Microsoft and remain popular among Windows users. However, as some people are discovering, if you’re running a machine equipped with a newer CPU, then you’ll want to give more serious consideration to giving them up and finally making the move to Windows 10, as Ars Technica reports.

The reason is simple if still slightly hard to swallow for affected users — Microsoft considers the newest Intel and AMD processors to be “designed for the latest version of Windows,” which, of course, means Windows 10. Accordingly, the company announced in January 2016 that Windows 7 and 8.1 would stop receiving updates if they’re running on machines using Intel’s seventh-generation Core processors, also known as Kaby Lake, and AMD’s just-released Ryzen processors. Some systems using sixth-generation Intel Core processors, known as Skylake, also fall under the same policy.

Although Microsoft wasn’t precise on exactly when that policy would go into effect, we now know the answer to that question. As some users are discovering, Windows 7 or 8.1 systems built with Kaby Lake, Skylake, or Ryzen processors are generating pop-ups letting users know that those systems “will miss important security updates.”

The reason for the change is that Microsoft hasn’t verified that Windows 7 and 8.1 support all of the new capabilities of the newest processors, such as recent improvements in power management starting with Ryzen and Skylake processors. In addition, the new processors and their associated chipsets include other components, such as USB Type-C and NVMe, that may not have drivers for older operating systems.

Some original equipment manufacturers have undertaken the process of verifying that Windows 7 and 8.1 will run just fine on their Skylake-based systems, and so that’s why some Skylake systems support those operating systems and some don’t. But otherwise, all of Microsoft’s due diligence with the newest systems has been performed with Windows 10, and so this latest action is basically the company’s way of letting people know that they’ll want to make the upgrade sooner rather than later.

People have various reasons for staying on Windows 7 and 8.1. Larger organizations that have many systems to upgrade have delayed their Windows 10 upgrades due to cost and logistical concerns. Starting now, however, those users won’t have any choice in the matter — it’s upgrade to Windows 10, or risk running into security issues caused by an unpatched operating system.</s>Microsoft has started blocking Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 updates for computers running certain new chipsets.

The company announced plans last January to block next-generation Intel, AMD and Qualcomm processors from system updates on older versions of Windows, but didn't reveal when support would be cut.

The process appears to have just kicked off.

Social media users are reporting that Microsoft is now blocking access to Windows 7 and 8.1 updates on devices running Intel's Kaby Lake processor.

Instead of the normal download screen, users attempting to update their systems are facing an error message reading, “Your PC uses a processor that is designed for the latest version of Windows.

"Because the processor is not supported together with the Windows version that you are currently using, your system will miss important security updates."

Microsoft has tried to justify the move by saying that the processors offer new capabilities that makes compatibility with older systems difficult, but it's also being seen as yet another aggressive technique designed to migrate more customers to Windows 10.

Changes to Microsoft's policy have also created plenty of confusion.

Skylake processors were included in the original policy announcement, but Microsoft has back-pedalled now says that some devices running the chipset will continue to receive Windows 7 and 8.1 updates, while others won't.

Machines running Ryzen, Kaby Lake and other new processors will have to upgrade to Windows 10.

Microsoft has released a Windows lifecycle fact sheet to clarify the situation.

“Without Microsoft support, you will no longer receive security updates that can help protect your PC from harmful viruses, spyware, and other malicious software that can steal your personal information,” it reads.

In other words, users need to upgrade to Windows 10 or knowingly expose themselves to cybercriminals.

According to NetMarketShare, almost half of all computer users are still on Windows 7, which came out in 2009.

Earlier this month, Microsoft cut support for Window Vista, widely considered the worst version of the operating system ever made.</s>Microsoft this week began blocking Windows 7 and 8.1 PCs equipped with the very newest processors from receiving security updates, making good on a policy it announced but did not implement last year.

But the company also refused to provide security fixes to Windows 7 systems that were powered by AMD's "Carrizo" CPUs, an architecture that was supposed to continue receiving patches.

The decree that led to the update bans, whether allowable or not under Microsoft's new policy, was revealed in January 2016, when the company said making Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 run on the latest processors was "challenging." Microsoft then ruled that Windows 10 would be the only supported edition on seventh-generation and later CPUs and simultaneously dictated a substantial shortening of support of both editions.

The biggest impact was on Windows 7, because it had become the standard in enterprises -- Microsoft's most valued customers -- with deployment shares far north of 50%. According to Microsoft, Windows 7 was to be fully supported on sixth-generation processors -- Intel's were dubbed "Skylake," AMD's included Carrizo -- until July 17, 2017. At that point, some Skylake-equipped PCs would continue to receive some security updates; other such PCs would get nothing.

Microsoft later walked back the cut-off, first by extending the end-of-support date to July 2018, then by repudiating the sixth-generation proclamation for those systems on a we'll-support-them list. The last move -- which took place in August -- meant that in most instances only seventh-generation and later processors from AMD and Intel were on Windows 7's and 8.1's no-go catalog.

Even so, Microsoft on Wednesday acknowledged that it had blocked updates from reaching machines equipped with AMD's Carrizo processor, then promised to correct the snafu.

"Microsoft intends to continue to support Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 with this processor and plans to address the issue causing the message in a future update," said Edison Pus, identified as a Microsoft representative, on the company's support forum. Pus did not specify when the update to the update would appear.

A shorter version of that message was also added to the "Known issues" section of the Windows 7 and 8.1 monthly roll-up and security-only updates.

Because the update ban cannot be reversed by users, they must wait until Microsoft issues a correction. During the interim, their PCs will be vulnerable to exploitation of the vulnerabilities Microsoft patched on Tuesday.

Other users also encountered the update injunction, but in those cases the messages were deliberate. "Windows 7 keeps giving a warning that my Intel Core i7 (7700k) processor is not supported," reported someone tagged as DenverBraganaza, in a message posted Tuesday to Microsoft's support forum.

That CPU is one from Intel's seventh-generation architecture, codenamed "Kaby Lake," and thus is on Microsoft's no-no list for Windows 7 and 8.1.

Others, however, said that their PCs had been barred from this month's updates -- and future updates -- even though the processors are not seventh-generation, raising the issue of false positives from whatever test or diagnostic Microsoft used to determine whether to block the machine.

One false positive report came from a user whose machine ran an Intel processor introduced around the same time as Windows 7, and had been refused April's update for the OS. That report, along with at least one other, were posted on AskWoody.com, a site operated by Woody Leonard, a Windows patch expert who writes for Infoworld. (Like Computerworld, Infoworld is an IDG publication.)

Microsoft did not immediately reply to a request for confirmation that it has officially begun enforcing the stop-support policy.

This story, "Microsoft begins denying updates to some Windows 7 users" was originally published by Computerworld.</s>Microsoft researchers were working late into the hours the Friday before this holiday weekend looking to address yesterday’s Shadow Brokers dump of Windows exploits. In a message sent to TechCrunch overnight, the company said it has addressed the issue for systems running Windows 7 and later.

“We’ve investigated and confirmed that the exploits disclosed by the Shadow Brokers have already been addressed by previous updates to our supported products,” the company wrote. “Customers with up-to-date software are already protected.”

Microsoft also issued a blog post on the subject, noting that, as the company worked to verify the exploits, it discovered that nine were already been addressed by previously issued patches. Microsoft Security Response Center, naturally, recommends that users keep their machines up to date to ensure that they’re protected.

There are three additional exploits not addressed by the aforementioned patches, though MS notes that they’re not capable of reproducing on machines running Windows 7 and above or recent versions of Exchange. Of course, that leave potential vulnerability for users still clinging to older versions of the operating system, as they’re no longer supported.

Once again, Microsoft’s response would no doubt be: upgrade to ensure you’re protected.

The dump was the first from Shadow Brokers in several months. The exploits were believe to have originated from the National Security Agency as part of its work to monitor money flow in the SWIFT interbank messaging system. The NSA has been roundly criticized for not warning companies sooner that the tools had leaked, though it has yet to address any potential connection to the leak.

And indeed, in a separate statement Microsoft confirmed the Agency hadn’t revealed potential vulnerabilities prior to yesterday’s mad dash to address the leaked exploits. “At this time,” said the spokesperson, “other than reporters, no individual or organization has contacted us in relation to the materials released by Shadow Brokers.”</s>Steps to Record Screen in Microsoft Windows 7 Read This PPT and follow steps about how to Record Screen in Windows 7 or call 1-8002201041 Windows 7 Customer Technical Support Phone Number for Help. Visit Blog- goo.gl/pkssGg</s>Microsoft has an event planned for May 2 believed to be focused on the education market, which has long been an Apple stronghold. It’s likely new hardware will be introduced, and some Microsoft watchers believe it will be the launch for a Windows Cloud device.

Windows Cloud is rumored to be Microsoft’s answer to Google Chromebooks. It’s essentially the old Windows RT OS that failed spectacularly a few years back, except now it’s built on Windows 10 and runs apps only from the Windows Store, both Win32 apps and Universal Windows Platform Apps. RT flopped mostly because there were no apps for it and developers didn’t rush out to make any apps for it.

ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley first speculated a few weeks back that Microsoft might call the new device a “Cloud book,” and it looks like she was off by one space. Microsoft recently rolled out a collection of educational apps in the Windows Store with the ID of “cloudbook.” So maybe there is a “CloudBook” after all.

MSPowerUser claims that it knows of a device called “CloudBook” and said rumors suggest that the CloudBook will have an ARM processor, possibly the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, which Microsoft has been targeting to run x86 apps in emulation mode. But at this point, it’s all just rumor.

Another question is whether this device will be a part of the Surface line. Surface products are full Windows 10 machines for all kinds of use scenarios and are rather pricey given their high hardware specs. Surface Books are not cheap, and if Microsoft intends to target the Chromebook market with its own device, it has to be price competitive.
The release also includes programs targeting Microsoft Windows operating systems. Microsoft announces that it had already fixed most (but not all) of these exploits.