In March 2017, Microsoft released a patch as outlined in KB4012598 to close a severe security hole in the supported versions of Microsoft Windows OS. If you have a version of Windows that automatically updates, then you are already patched for this security flaw.
On May 12th, 2017, malware nick-named “WannaCry” and “WannaCrypt” infected hundreds of thousands of machines around the world. The infection is initially spread by e-mail injection and then spread rapidly via internal networks. Many of these systems were older, unsupported operating systems.
Microsoft still supports and provides security updates for a version of Windows called “Windows XP Embedded” until 2019, so patches for some of these older operating systems are still being created, the problem is that Windows XP and other unsupported operating systems no longer provide the ability to perform automatic updates. These updates are required to be manually downloaded and applied to the operating system. So, unless you’re aware these are available, its unlikely your system was patched.
For this specific security risk outlined in KB4012598, see the Catalog Update to download a patch for your discontinued version of Microsoft Windows. For Windows XP (32-bit), you must already have Service Pack 3 installed before installing this patch.
Microsoft Customer Guidance for WannaCrypt Attacks
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