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Comment by dogweather | Hacker News Reader

Are attacks like this—ransomware—always aimed at Windows-based systems? Is that the common denominator?

I've noticed that most Internet attacks are Windows-based but somehow "Microsoft" or "Windows" never makes it into the news copy. I've wondered if MS has a massive marketing/legal outreach to make sure that doesn't happen. And to make it sound like "this can happen anywhere", and "no computer is 100% attack-proof".

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Netcraft indicates Linux or unknown previous to the incident for www and bl.uk:

https://sitereport.netcraft.com/?url=http://www.bl.uk

  Hosting History
    
  Netblock owner IP address OS Web server Last seen
  Microsoft Corporation One Microsoft Way Redmond WA US 98052 13.107.213.64 Linux unknown 26-Nov-2023
  Microsoft Corporation One Microsoft Way Redmond WA US 98052 13.107.246.64 Linux unknown 25-Nov-2023
  British Library 194.66.233.215 Linux unknown 20-Jul-2023
  British Library 194.66.233.215 Linux nginx 15-May-2019
  British Library 194.66.233.215 unknown nginx 5-Jul-2016
  British Library 194.66.233.215 Linux nginx 4-Jul-2016
  British Library 194.66.233.215 unknown nginx 26-Jun-2016
  British Library 194.66.233.215 Linux nginx 21-Jun-2016
  British Library 194.66.233.215 unknown nginx 17-Jun-2016
  British Library 194.66.233.215 Linux Apache 17-Jan-2016

Does not have to be what they are running their servers on.

Very true. This website[0] by a library consultant says the library system was “Aleph 500.” The product documentation[1] says it is an Oracle on RHEL. Other components also indicate Unix flavors.

0. https://librarytechnology.org/library/3413

1. https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Aleph/Product_Documentat...

To me the share of Windows as ransomware target seems proportional to Window's use in office computers in large and medium enterprises.

No they aren't always aimed at Windows based systems but it is the most widely used operating system so of course it is targeted and exploited. Every system is vulnerable. The secret is that coders are normal people just like everyone else, they make mistakes. The real problem is that our economy is driven by money so these things don't get fixed because there's no profit in it, only features that make money get added or fixed.

This is bait, but I'll bite. From what I've seen, the common denominator is misconfiguration. We can all do it, but it seems especially concentrated in organizations with limited IT human resources largely dependent upon contracted service providers. Spend a butt load on systems and hope Bill in IT doesn't screw it up. A lot of that ecosystem happens to be Windows based.

This is a great observation. What if, back in the Ford Explorer Firestone tire explosion scandal, they said "SUVs are being recalled because tires are exploding". Makes the article much less informative.

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