Shadow Brokers a hacking group recently leaked a set of hacking tools that apparently had some link with the NSA, and Windows was one of the platforms that were listed vulnerable. However, Microsoft assured that all the exploits have already been patched and it has also tested the same.
Windows users safe from NSA leaked hacks
That said Microsoft says that “all the supported versions of Windows have been patched” what this also means is that Windows XP and Windows Vista may still be vulnerable. Since Microsoft has already stopped supporting the older version it’s almost certain that they will be left in the lurch.
Microsoft has responded so as to calm the fear and panic the Shadow Brokers leak had caused. In fact, many security researchers started advising users to stay away from Windows and a similar opinion was echoed by Edward Snowden who commented: “NSA did not warn Microsoft.” Microsoft, on the other hand, maintain that other than reporters no other individuals have contacted them with respect to the stuff released by Shadow Brokers.
Microsoft triaged a large release of exploits made publicly available by Shadow Brokers. Understandingly, customers have expressed concerns around the risk this disclosure potentially creates. Our engineers have investigated the disclosed exploits, and most of the exploits are already patched. Below is our update on the investigation.
One of the security researchers claims that the NSA might have reported the bugs themselves as a saving grace. He promptly pointed out that the patched (MS17-010) that was issued last month had no acknowledgments. Usually, Microsoft always acknowledges the source of the security flaws. It might be possible that Microsoft has been forewarned of the dangers and fixed the same.
In a nutshell, if you are running Windows XP or Vista it’s high time you consider upgrading and if you already run Windows 7 and up pat yourself on the back and calm down. While upgrading to the latest build cannot always be rewarding it surely fixes the security flaws and vulnerabilities.
In fact, this is one of the reasons why Microsoft decided to steer to the Windows as a service model starting with Windows 10.
