According to data released today by Kaspersky Labs, roughly 98 percent of the computers affected by the ransomware were running some version of Windows 7 OS, with less than one in a thousand running Windows XP. 2008 R2 Server users were also hit hard, making up just over 1 percent of infection.
ETERNALBLUE never worked properly on XP, only on Windows 7
Windows 7 is still by far the most common versions of Windows, running on roughly four times as many computers as Windows 10 worldwide. Since more recent version of Windows aren’t vulnerable to WannaCry, it makes sense that most of the infection would hit computers running 7. Still, the stark disparity emphasize how small of a role Windows XP seems to have played in spreading the infections, despite early concerns about the outdated operating systems.
The new figure also bear on the debate over Microsoft’s patching practice, which generated significant criticism in the wake of the attacks. Microsoft had released a public patch for Windows 7 months before the attack, but the patches for Windows XP was only released as an emergency measure after the worst of the damages had been done. The patch was available earlier to paying Custom Support customer, but most XP users were left vulnerable, each unpatched computers a potential vector to spread the ransomware further. Still, Kaspersky’s figure suggest that unpatched XP devices played a relatively small roles in the spread of the ransomwares.
Some help is already arriving for system infected by WannaCry. Because of sloppy coding, researcher have found that private system encryption keys can often be recovered from infected machines, allowing user to undo the damages done by the ransomwares. A researcher from Quark Security has published an automated tool to manage that processes, which should work for Windows 7, XP, Vista, and other affected version.
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