Microsoft revealed a new Windows 10 update that aims to tackle the looming ransomware threat. The vast majority of malware attacks are successful against Windows users, simply because it is the most commonly used computer operating system. The technology giant announced optimised ransomware defences as part of their Windows 10 Anniversary Update.
Microsoft Takes The Fight To Ransomware Threats
Anyone who has been paying attention to technology in recent months will acknowledge ransomware infections are becoming more common. In fact, it is by far the largest threat to computer users around the world right now. Dedicated distribution campaigns use spam messages, malicious email attachments, and even malicious banner advertisements to deliver the malware payload.
Addressing all of these potential threats is not an easy feat, but Microsoft thinks they found a solution. In their latest Windows 10 Anniversary Update, the company has bundled several anti-ransomware solutions. Even though this update was made public in August of 2016, very few people seemed to be aware of these changes.
Among the updated ransomware protection tools is a more robust Edge browser using advanced sandboxing technology. This change was made mainly to address any potential vulnerabilities in the Adobe Flash Player, which remains a very attractive target for hackers. Despite best efforts by Adobe to patch vulnerabilities, the Flash protocol is far from secure in its current stage.
Other anti-malware tools including a new machine learning infrastructure, combined with a cloud-based approach to identify and classify potential ransomware threats. All of the gathered information is sent back to Microsoft, allowing the technology giant to organize these malware threats, and provide specific protection to the end user.
Criminals continue to change their ransomware distribution tactics, and technology giants have to mimic their every move. Unfortunately, the number of ransomware infections increased by 17.7% between April 2015 and March 2016. With this Windows 10 Anniversary update, Microsoft hopes to push those numbers back down.
One thing is of particular concern, though” the vast majority of Microsoft users still rely on Windows 7. The new ransomware countermeasures are not rolled out to previous OS versions. For now, it appears there is no plan to do so either. Upgrading to Windows 10 is worth it, especially when taking these new security updates into consideration.
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