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A group of researchers have found substantial security issues in the SoftBank Pepper robot, including unauthenticated administrative capabilities. The findings were detailed in a paper, published this month, written by Alberto Giaretta of Örebro University in Sweden, along with Michele De Donno and Nicola Dragoni of the Technical University of Denmark.

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Other researchers found that these robots are susceptible to ransomware. Ransomware for robots is an increasing risk, as these devices can be exploited and locked to the detriment of business operations, according to research from IOActive,  Researchers found that they could exploit an undocumented function that allows remote command execution on both the Pepper and NAOrobots—two of the most used in businesses, research, and education worldwide. With these robots, and others that perform similar functions, cybercriminals could use ransomware to halt their work, display inappropriate content or language to customers, or perform violent movements during work.

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Sue Kayton says it’s safe to install the newest 18.03 update to Windows.  She  has installed it on more than 50 computers with success.

Here are her instructions BEFORE YOU UPDATE YOUR SYSTEM:

1. First, run a DISK CLEANUP
   1. Right-click on the START menu and enter “Disk Cleanup” in the SEARCH box. Right-click on the program name and select “Run as Administrator” OR
   2. Click on the START menu, select “Windows Administrative Tools” and right-click on “Disk Cleanup”. Select “More” > “Run as Administrator”
   3. Select the OS disk, usually ‘C’, and click OK.
   4. Windows will list the files available for deletion. Select the folder you want to delete and click OK
2. Run CHKDSK
   1. Open an elevated command prompt  (This link will take you to a  tutorial that will show you different ways to open an elevated command prompt that will run as administrator  in Windows 10. You must be signed in to Windows as an administrator to be able to open an elevated command prompt.)
   2. At the DOS prompt in the window enter “CHKDSK /F” to fix any disk errors.
   3. Enter “exit” to close the command window.
3. Make sure Safe Mode is enabled. Enable Safe mode during boot to help you recover from a possible virus infestation or bad video driver.  Under Windows 10, by default you cannot use F8 during boot to enter safe mode. To enable safe mode, open an elevated command prompt and type in the following three lines, one at a time.
   1. bcdedit /set {bootmgr} displaybootmenu yes
   2. bcdedit /timeout 3
   3. bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy (note that the last line may give an error message because it may already be enabled.)
4. Reboot your system
5. Back up all your data

NOW you can run the update.

After the update, you will need to fix the following:

1. Shares will be messed up.  You will need to re-create your shared permissions, especially for turning off password-protected sharing
2. If you use a NAS, you may need to manually turn on (turn Windows features on or off) the protocol SMB 1.0
3. Your Windows games (Solitaire, Freecell, etc.) will need to be reinstalled.  Use this link and make sure to UN-CHECK the box to install WinAero, which is malware.   http://www.suekayton.com/software/Win7Games4Win10Anniv.exe
4. The update will suppress the ‘confirmation dialog’ on the Recycle Bin when you delete something. To recover it:
   1. Right-click on the Recycle Bin and select “Properties”
   2. Check the box  “Display delete confirmation dialog”.