EternalRomance

EternalRomance is a computer exploited, which had been created by the American cyber security firm, Equation Group. It is believed to have been uncovered by the Shadow Brokers in August 2016, before being presented in a dump of exploit tools.

The exploit targets a vulnerability in the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol of the Microsoft Windows operating system, and has been proven to work of Microsoft Windows XP through Windows 10. Most SMB servers support older versions of the protocol, which makes them vulnerable to EternalRomance.

The vulnerability in SMB exploited in EternalRomance is known as MS17-010 and was first discovered in March 2017. Microsoft released a patch to address this vulnerability on March 14, 2017, so users that had already installed the update would not be affected by this exploit.

EternalRomance has been used as a tool to gain remote control of a user’s computer by providing intruders access to their stored data. It was also used by the notorious WannaCry ransomware, which is believed to have been the most destructive cyber-attack ever to take place, impacting over 300,000 computers in more than 150 countries.

Since its release, EternalRomance has been subject to much scrutiny in the information security community. Despite its notoriety, EternalRomance serves as an important reminder to the cyber security community of the importance of staying up-to-date with security patches and software updates.