Like both previous Shadow Brokers dumps, this batch contains vulnerabilities that the NSA clearly did not disclose even after the tools were stolen.
The leaked tools attempt to exploit vulnerabilities that have already been patched, Microsoft says in a statement, so if you bring your system fully up to date, there's no chance hackers can hijack your system.
According to another report in Fortune, the group - believed to be tied to the Russian government - also released a set of confidential hacking tools used by USA intelligence organisation the NSA to exploit software vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows software. There are trillions of dollars per day that get transferred through SWIFT, with over 11,000 banks and securities organizations in over 200 countries using SWIFT. This Friday's release contained more serious exploits.
Microsoft is investigating reports about leaked hacking tools that target older Windows systems.
"Customers still running prior versions of these products are encouraged to upgrade to a supported offering", the company said.
Although, SWIFT has downplayed the breach saying it's not very significant and it had had no evidence of the main SWIFT network being ever accessed without authorization.
According to Suiche and other security researchers, the Shadow Brokers dump includes exploits for Cisco routers and tools to extract information from Oracle databases, which would have been used to infiltrate the SWIFT banking system.
"There is no impact on SWIFT's infrastructure or data, however we understand that communications between these service bureaus and their customers may previously have been accessed by unauthorized third parties". According to the company, "The EastNets Service Bureau runs on a separate secure network that can not be accessed over the public networks".
A collective of security researchers have analyzed the leaked exploits yesterday afternoon, which helped us put a list of all the exploits, here.
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Phiillip Misner, principal security group manager of Microsoft's security response centre, said Microsoft had patched the "EternalBlue", "EternalRomance","EternalChampion", and "EternalSynergy" flaws in the Server Message Block file sharing protocol version 1 in March this year.
Documents included in the Shadow Brokers release suggest that the NSA, after penetrating the firewall of the SWIFT service providers, used Microsoft exploits to target the computers interacting with the SWIFT network, Comae Technologies' Suiche said.
Swift is a network that allows global banks to move money around the world.
One theory among security practitioners is that the NSA itself reported the vulnerabilities to Microsoft, knowing that the tools would be dumped publicly.
Talking about the NSA spy tools leak online, Matthew Hickey, founder of security firm Hacker House, said that the latest hacking is possibly the most damaging in the last several years.
A Microsoft spokesperson said: "We are reviewing the report and will take the necessary actions to protect our customers".
The NSA has previously shown interest in targeting SWIFT, according to documents leaked by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.
"Other than reporters, no individual or organisation has contacted us in relation to the materials released by Shadow Brokers", the company said.
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