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Windows OS Security issues! As well as other OS's

As many of you know last Friday a Ransomware Virus attacked many in Europe, Asia and even here in the US! Here's some BBC reports on what happened:

A happy accident stopped the threat this time! What about the next attack?

Many of the people we help here are still using older systems which can't support newer OS's. We need to start warning these folks not to put their systems on the internet so they don't become either infected of taken over (DoD attack bot).

We also need to create a set of guides to properly setup ones system to be proactively configured out so one can defend them selves from the risk.

Any ideas here guys?

Update (05/14/2017)

The ransomware virus has mutated (altered)! Ransomware cyber-attack a wake-up call, Microsoft warns

Update (05/15/2017)

More on whats happening: WannaCry — New Variants Detected!.

Here's the researchers writeup on how an accident stopped the 'Wanna Decryptor ransomware: How I accidentally stopped a global Wanna Decryptor ransomware attack

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@danj great information! Proper setups, frequent backups and updating antivirus and OS programs must become common practice

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You couldn't be more right. Windows (10) has been catching up to mac as far security goes for a while, but the big downfall is the users that aren't security conscious. Third party software is still necessary to keep it safe.

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/How+to+remo...

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If you are running Norton or Symantec Endpoint Protection on a Mac or PC, simply run LiveUpdate it to protect against Wannacry.

https://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/w...

What are best practices for protecting against ransomware?

New ransomware variants appear on a regular basis. Always keep your security software up to date to protect yourself against them.

Keep your operating system and other software updated. Software updates will frequently include patches for newly discovered security vulnerabilities that could be exploited by ransomware attackers.

Email is one of the main infection methods. Be wary of unexpected emails especially if they contain links and/or attachments.

Be extremely wary of any Microsoft Office email attachment that advises you to enable macros to view its content. Unless you are absolutely sure that this is a genuine email from a trusted source, do not enable macros and instead immediately delete the email.

Backing up important data is the single most effective way of combating ransomware infection. Attackers have leverage over their victims by encrypting valuable files and leaving them inaccessible. If the victim has backup copies, they can restore their files once the infection has been cleaned up. However organizations should ensure that backups are appropriately protected or stored off-line so that attackers can’t delete them.

Using cloud services could help mitigate ransomware infection, since many retain previous versions of files, allowing you to roll back to the unencrypted form.

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i feel yall, just last week i got a virus, it installed a program that was named “garbage cleaner” but everything was in russian so i immediately restored windows to factory settings and erased all programs except intel extreme tuning

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Dan will be eternally grateful.