Microsoft Urges Users To Patch Windows To Defend Against BlueKeep Exploits

To protect yourself from ongoing BlueKeep exploit attacks, Microsoft urges users with systems running Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2008 R2 to update their operating systems.

BlueKeep is a vulnerability with the ‘worm’ capability. This means that the malware can spread itself to other vulnerable computers on the network without additional input from the victim, making this type of malware particularly dangerous.

An example of the ‘worm’ malware is WannaCry, which was able to globally infect over 100 000 computers within a 24 hour period in 2017 due to its worm capability.

Ongoing BlueKeep Exploits

To detect malware on the internet, Cybersecurity professionals often set up ‘honeypots’ – decoy computers that are designed to study cyberattack methods by baiting attackers into infecting them with malware.

On October 23d, cybersecurity researcher Kevin Beaumond noticed that honeypots that he had set up around the world were crashing and rebooting themselves with increasing regularity. Hutchins, another cybersecurity researcher, confirmed that the reboots were caused by the BlueKeep exploit.

Upon further investigation, Hutchins also discovered that the BlueKeep exploit that was detected had the goal of installing a cryptomining malware on infected PCs. You can learn more about cryptomining in our article here.

What are steps that you can take to protect yourself?

Keep your system Updated

The most effective way of protecting yourself from BlueKeep exploits is by keeping your PC up-to-date. Security engineers are constantly detecting repairing security vulnerabilities in their software. It is essential that you download security patches from your software manufacturers in order to protect yourself from publicly known dangers.

Disable RDP

Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) is a Windows feature that allows for a computer to remotely connect and control another PC. It is useful for IT management and remote troubleshooting, but can also be a security liability. BlueKeep exploits RDP in order to infiltrate PCs, so it is important to keep this feature turned off to protect yourself.

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