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How much are you willing to pay for your photographs?

Posted: Fri May 12, 2017 3:53 pm
by DChan

Posted: Fri May 12, 2017 4:52 pm
by baldsparrow
I understand the ransomeware attack only affects computers running unpatched Windows XP ... cant be too many of those still around surely (outside the British NHS)

Posted: Fri May 12, 2017 6:19 pm
by SantaFeJoe
Definitely not true, baldsparrow. There are many forms of ransomeware since around 2005. Many individuals, hospitals and law enforcement agencies have been affected. A long time ago, I saw a story about photos being held for ransom and, surprisingly, this expert recommended paying the ransom!

https://www.wired.com/2015/09/hacker-le ... hats-rise/

https://blog.malwarebytes.com/cybercrim ... hing-lure/

Just Google "ransomware" and you will see how prevalent it is.

Joe

Posted: Fri May 12, 2017 6:30 pm
by SantaFeJoe
Here's one on a hospital that paid about $17,000:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ransomware- ... or-ransom/

BTW, the second link above is not about ransomware, but is of interest to photographers.

Joe

Re:

Posted: Fri May 12, 2017 6:49 pm
by baldsparrow
SantaFeJoe wrote:Definitely not true, baldsparrow. There are many forms of ransomeware since around 2005. Many individuals, hospitals and law enforcement agencies have been affected. A long time ago, I saw a story about photos being held for ransom and, surprisingly, this expert recommended paying the ransom!

The original post was about the widespread attackthat is going around today ... that has been identified as being targeted at people running XP ... yes, I agree, there are other ransomeware nasties out there but today's is XP targeted.

Posted: Fri May 12, 2017 7:29 pm
by DChan
Actually, the original post is the question "How much are you willing to pay for your photographs?"

This time it may not affect you, but it could happen to you in the future. Would you pay? And is there a limit?

Based on threads I've read here, some of you turn off the auto-update and some even don't want any update...

Posted: Fri May 12, 2017 7:33 pm
by SantaFeJoe
baldsparrow,

Can you provide a link showing that? From what I found, the NSA tools leaked and being used, work on computers running Windows 7 and 8, as well.

Joe

Re:

Posted: Fri May 12, 2017 7:59 pm
by baldsparrow
SantaFeJoe wrote:baldsparrow,

Can you provide a link showing that? From what I found, the NSA tools leaked and being used, work on computers running Windows 7 and 8, as well.

Joe

It was a quote from a computer academic from a U.K. University ... I think in an article from the Guardian newspaper. He specifically referred to XP as patches for it have not been issued as it is no longer supported.  I think the original article has been edited since I read it but I found this on the CBC website which points in the same direction .... quote:  "[font=Arial, sans-serif]The ransomware's rapid spread suggests that many organizations have been slow to update their systems to newer versions of Microsoft's Windows operating system that address the bug, which likely aided the worm's movement."  I know the UK NHS uses a lot of XP machines.[/font]

22:11 ... Found it: (quote):  [font='Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif]“This was eminently predictable in lots of ways,” said Ryan Kalember from cybersecurity firm Proofpoint. “As soon as the Shadow Brokers dump came out everyone [in the security industry] realized that a lot of people wouldn’t be able to install a patch, especially if they used an operating system like Windows XP [which many NHS computers still use], for which there is no patch.”[/font]

Posted: Sat May 13, 2017 8:48 am
by Neilyb
Another reason to have an off site backup of all my RAW files and catalogues.

Re:

Posted: Sat May 13, 2017 11:33 am
by E.J. Peiker
Neilyb wrote:Another reason to have an off site backup of all my RAW files and catalogues.
That doesn't really solve the problem in this situation.  When this type of ransom event strikes, your entire computer is encrypted including all your apps, all your documents, everything.  If you had an off site, unconnected clone of your system and a complete backup of all of your files, then you might be able to fully restore everything but just having an offsite backup of your photos doesn't really solve the problem of losing access.  Of course you could attach that offsite backup to a different computer and get around it that way.

Posted: Sat May 13, 2017 12:02 pm
by SantaFeJoe
Microsoft issued a security update/patch for XP and some older systems:

http://www.zdnet.com/article/wannacrypt ... yptr=yahoo

Joe

Posted: Sat May 13, 2017 1:29 pm
by Mike in O
The fault lies with the consumer...auto updates patched this flaw in March. It is imperative that you keep your computer up to date.

Posted: Sat May 13, 2017 2:58 pm
by DChan
The paid version of Malwarebytes and Hitman Pro has ransomware protection. I understand many here prefer the free version which does not have real-time protection.

Posted: Sat May 13, 2017 3:29 pm
by signgrap
You have to "feel" for those non-profits that are still running Win XP. MS is no longer updating/patching XP. This means that those hospitals in GB that had there computers held for ransom had NO WAY to patch their computer system against the ransom ware virus. So why didn't the hospitals upgrade their OS to Win 7, 8 or 10? Just imagine the cost - software license to MS, add the IT cost and in all likelihood they would have to buy new computers and servers as the new software would require more powerful hardware as the software won't run on older slow computers. How many of you had to get new more powerful computers to run a new OS? For a non-profit hospital that is just "getting by" and not making enough money to pay for new software and hardware for the entire hospital what are they to do. The same goes for "for profit businesses" that are just getting by. I think MS has to rethink their policy of not updating XP certainly as it pertains to non-profits and human services.

Posted: Sat May 13, 2017 3:35 pm
by DChan
Then again, upgrading to Windows 10 was free, only that many were suspicious of the motive of Microsoft (even today).

Also, you don't need the latest machine to run Windows 10. Sometimes it's the programs that run in Wins 10 that you're upgrading your machines for.

Posted: Sat May 13, 2017 4:44 pm
by E.J. Peiker
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/natio ... n-n758516?
Relatively concise article describing this world wide ransomware attack.

Re:

Posted: Sat May 13, 2017 7:08 pm
by signgrap
DChan wrote:Then again, upgrading to Windows 10 was free, only that many were suspicious of the motive of Microsoft (even today).

Also, you don't need the latest machine to run Windows 10. Sometimes it's the programs that run in Wins 10 that you're upgrading your machines for.
But you forget the rest of my post as the cost of the OS software is a mere fraction of the cost when you're upgrading an entire hospital computer network. The IT cost would be enormous and then you need to add the cost of upgrading all the old XP computer hardware. Added to that the hospital may need to update part or most of the hospital software in order to run properly on the new OS. Healthcare software is very complicated that is very difficult to get right. Once you get it right you don't want to mess it up by changing the OS, so I understand why hospitals don't want to upgrade an OS. It's very unfortunate that MS stopped supporting XP.

Re: How much are you willing to pay for your photographs?

Posted: Sat May 13, 2017 7:54 pm
by Robert
Apparently now due to this ransomware attack, MS is supplying free patches and updates for all MS OS users including XP users.
https://threatpost.com/microsoft-releases-xp-patch-for-wannacry-ransomware/125671/

Posted: Tue May 16, 2017 2:09 pm
by Jeff Colburn
I do a complete backup every month, and important changes between backups gets backed up on a flash drive. So ransomware wouldn't get a penny from me.

Have Fun,
Jeff