Synectics Partners may be aware of a large scale cyber-attack affecting organisations worldwide on Friday 12th May 2017. This cyber-attack involved the use of a ransomware tool commonly known as “Wannacry” – this tool encrypts files on a system, and requires a payment to be made for the files to be decrypted.
While the cyber-attacks were stopped on that day, there is a risk that these attacks may resume.
The “Wannacry” tool takes advantage of security vulnerabilities in the Microsoft Windows operating system. Microsoft has made security updates available for the Windows operating system to patch these vulnerabilities, providing protection against the tool.
This update has been tested on supported Synectics hardware products, to confirm it does not affect functionality of Synectics software. Synectics strongly recommends this update is applied to any of these supported Synectics hardware products, particularly if they are connected to a public network such as the Internet.
Our current hardware platforms make use of two Microsoft Windows operating systems, each of which have a specific security update file.
Microsoft Windows Embedded Standard 7 based hardware
- Micro Client/Display Wall
- Pro Client/Display Wall
- Ultra Client/Display Wall
- PSN 3/PSN 3 Ultra
- Synergy Compact Pro
- Synergy Compact Ultra
- D1080
- Synergy Tablet
- Synectics Web Streamer
The security patch download for these platforms can be found here.
To install the update, run the file on the operating system of the hardware. A reboot will be required once the update is complete, so please ensure any downtime is planned for.
To run the file, you may need to access the administrative mode of the hardware by running the Security shortcut on the Desktop and entering the security password.
Windows Server 2012 R2 based hardware
- VM Host
- Synergy 3 Server VM
- Synergy Pro Server VM
- Incident Locker VM
- POS Server VM
- Slots Server VM
The security patch download for these platforms can be found here.
To install the update, run the file on the operating system of the hardware, or the VM requiring the update. A reboot will be required once the update is complete, so please ensure any downtime is planned for.
Other hardware
A number of legacy hardware platforms supplied by Synectics, or third-party hardware running Synectics software, may run alternative Windows operating systems such as Windows XP, Windows Server 2003/2008, and Windows Vista.
The security patch is available for these legacy operating systems; however, Synectics is unable to ratify this security patch on these operating systems as they are used on end of life platforms. Nonetheless, Synectics does not expect the security patch to affect the operation of Synectics software.
To find these security patches, please refer to Microsoft’s security bulletin here. Synectics recommends the “Security Only” patch is used, to minimise the risk of incompatibility with Synectics software.
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Synectics provides updates and improvements to its Microsoft Windows platform approximately every 6-9 months in line with our Silver or Gold software release schedule, allowing us to ensure any operating system updates do not affect the operation of our software. These updates include security patch roll ups. Anti-virus software is also included as part of our deployment images.
Where there are unprecedented critical security issues in any supported product we provide, such as this, we strive to support our customers as quickly as possible by testing any applicable security patches on the affected platforms. Please rest assured that we monitor for such issues - and should these occur in between releases of deployment images, we will inform you of our recommended course of action via our knowledgebase.
If you have any further questions or concerns, please raise a support ticket using our knowledgebase or contact your local Synectics support team.
Synectics Products Team