What is Bluekeep Vulnerability and How Can You Protect Your Computer From It

You know that a threat to cybersecurity is serious when the National Security Agency is concerned about it. The latest warning from the NSA concerns the vulnerability BlueKeep, a security threat that affects computers running the Windows operating system.

If you have not heard about it yet and need to protect yourself, keep reading to learn more about this feat and how it affects you.

What is the vulnerability of BlueKeep

The vulnerability of BlueKeep is a de-worming threat, but unlike other threats of this type, it is evaluated at 9.8 out of 10 by the Common Vulnerability Scoring System, similar to the WannaCry ransomware. of 2017.

Thanks to its deworming behavior, BlueKeep can spread via networks to other computers and grow in the same way that WannaCry spread in a matter of hours, affecting computers in 150 countries.

As a first step, the security researchers with whom Microsoft collaborated discovered the threat crashes caused by a BlueKeep operating module, suggesting an imminent attack.

Until 9 October, the situation was relatively quiet and similar accidents occurred. A report from the Microsoft Security Research Team indicates that "an earlier campaign of coin extraction in September had used a primary implant that had contacted the same command and control infrastructure than that used during the BlueKeep Metasploit campaign of October ".

How the BlueKeep vulnerability works

Microsoft releases regular updates to fix bugs and fix security vulnerabilities, but the BlueKeep bug is dangerous because it can allow hackers to run code like a ransomware or any other type of malware on a computer .

To do this, it allows hackers to exploit the remote desktop protocol of your computer without any password or interaction from you.

The target software vulnerability and affects older versions of Windows. This is a significant risk because such computers can be connected to each other through a network connection. As a result, the threat could spread much faster than you could cope with.

However, the threat has not yet materialized, as it is primarily aimed at unpatched Windows systems with RDP 3389 ports exposed to the Internet, making them vulnerable.

The Microsoft Defender ATP research team however warned that attackers could use the exploit to deliver more impactful and more damaging payloads than minors, to hundreds of thousands of vulnerable computers.

How the vulnerability of BlueKeep affects you

If you are a Windows user, you must correct your version of Windows now, if you have not already done so. It is an alert from Microsoft Security Intelligence, a global network of security experts, regarding the BlueKeep exploit which they have detected activity for the first time in the beginning of September 2021.

The BlueKeep threat has been introduced, which means that more than one million currently vulnerable and online computers could be subject to a massive cyber security attack if no action is taken.

Therefore, you must update your computer with the latest security update to protect it, especially if you are using Windows 7, Vista, XP, Windows Server 2003, or 2008/2008 R2 systems.

Windows 8 or 10 users will not be affected, but it's always best to enable automatic updates and protect your computer from potential threats.

When to apply the Windows BlueKeep security patch

If your computer is running an unsupported version of Windows other than Windows 8 or 10, download and apply the software updates or patches now to correct the BlueKeep vulnerability. Otherwise, upgrade to the latest version of Windows to stay automatically updated and protected.

You can find the version supported downloads in the Microsoft Security Response Center, although Microsoft indicates that Microsoft Security Response Center is also providing fixes for earlier versions.

How to protect your computer against BlueKeep vulnerability

Here are some security measures to take to protect yourself, your computer, and your data from the BlueKeep vulnerability and other attacks of this type in the future:

• Update your current version of Windows with the security patch or upgrade to Windows 8 or 10.
• Update other devices running Windows because they are also vulnerable.
• Have robust and updated antivirus or security software running the latest version.
• Back up your files to protect against BlueKeep and other malware threats, but also against hardware failures that could cause you to lose data.

Note: Older or older versions of Windows are particularly vulnerable to several types of threats, aside from BlueKeep. Although there is a fix for this current threat, you may find that there are usually no more bug fixes for your version of the system that is no longer supported. That's why it's best to upgrade to Windows 8 or Windows 10.

Stay safe there

Now that you know the vulnerability of BlueKeep and its potential to become the WannaCry attack in 2020, it is best to take the time necessary to stay protected. Apply today the security measures above for you, your machine and your sensitive data to be protected against this attack and other possible attacks.

Next Up: Ever heard of Krack Wi-Fi vulnerability? Our next article explains in more detail Krack, what hackers can or can not use, and how to protect themselves.