The Microsoft Windows 10 operating system integrates an antivirus: it is Windows Defender and it is considered more than enough to protect most users' work and browsing. But he has a problem, even a big one: a bug recently discovered that it could allow a hacker to remotely infect your computer.
It could and perhaps already has, because cybersecurity researchers believe that the vulnerability, coded as CVE-2021-1647, has been exploited in the past three months by hackers as part of the massive attack on SolarWinds. That is the attack, allegedly carried out by hackers linked to the Russian government, which led to the sensational theft of data from most departments of the Trump administration. Last month, then, Microsoft said that Russian-sponsored hackers have indeed compromised its internal network and leveraged other Microsoft products to conduct further attacks. This bug in Windows Defender appears to be one used by cybercriminals.
Bug in Windows Defender, what it is
To be "laundry", to be precise, is the Microsoft Malware Protection Engine, a Defender component that runs in the background on Windows 10 computers and is in charge of intercept in real time be a malware take action.
The versions of Microsoft Malware Protection Engine affected by the bug range from 1.1.17600.5 to 1.1.17700.4 and run automatically not only on Windows 10, but also on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2004. All PCs with one of these versions of Defender's Microsoft Malware Protection Engine, on all these operating systems, they could be attacked if the computer is connected to the Internet.
Bug in Windows Defender, how to fix it
Microsoft has eliminated this serious Windows Defender vulnerability by inserting the appropriate patch within the first “Patch Tuesday” of 2021, released on January 12. I Patch Tuesday are the Windows updates that Microsoft releases on the second Tuesday of each month to fix bugs that have come up in the previous weeks.
Those who don't have Windows Update set up to receive automatic updates, therefore, it should hurry to launch it manually and download the latest security updates available. Also because that of Windows Defender is only one of the 83 bug, of varying severity, resolved by Microsoft with the first update of the year.
Windows 10 antivirus has a dangerous bug: how to fix it
