Microsoft has added several measures that can deal with ransomware in the latest Windows 10 updates, continue reading to find out more.
Windows 10 Is Fighting Ransomware
Microsoft has decided to strengthen their Windows 10 operating system by including new measures that defend against aggressive ransomware attacks. The newly published Windows 10 Anniversary update features new security features that are designed to protect business users from threats by discovering and mitigating ransomware threats. Microsoft released detailed information about ransomware stating that the number of malware variants has more than doubled in the last year.
The company has added several new security measures to the different subsystems of the operating systems. The updates are organized in three major categories – ransomware prevention, prevention and response. The new additions work only if the various Microsoft suite components are installed on the host system – Microsoft Edge, Windows Defender and others. Some of the example updates include the following features:
- The Microsoft Edge is updated so that the Adobe Flash Plugin will run in an isolated container. In addition the browser is configured to block third-party application execution and downloading of files without user consent
- Microsoft has updated its email services that block the popular ransomware distribution techniques. The company has invested in machine learning algorithms that attempts to capture ransomware infections in the file attachments and alert Windows Defender
- Windows Defender has an updated heuristics engine which addresses threats quicker than before
- Microsoft has updated the Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) to help companies to detect and address ransomware attacks. The utility is a combination of security events management and alerts processing.
- Six of the top 10 ransomware threats use browser, or browser-plugin-related exploits, so we made it harder for malware authors to exploit Windows 10 and Microsoft Edge
- We increased detection and blocking capability in our email services, increasing the number of ransomware-related attachments being blocked
- We added new technology to Windows Defender to reduce detection time to seconds, increasing our ability to respond before the infection can occur
- We released Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection which can be combined with Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection to make it easier for companies to investigate and respond to ransomware attacks
When the Windows Defender ATP works together with Office 265 ATP the two applications share their signals to give a thorough overview of all enterprise attacks. This mechanism allows for a higher level of protection. These updates are mainly targeted to business owners who are the main victims of ransomware.
Some of the insights that Microsoft have given about the ransomware threats include the following:
