Let's not dwell on the dire situation Microsoft is facing at this moment. Let's shift our focus back to domestic matters.
Compared to the situation abroad, the domestic situation is arguably better.
First, due to the unique "Great Firewall" in China, this ransomware incident originating from abroad did not immediately affect domestic enterprises.
Although the firewall cannot stop true masters, nor can it stop those domestically who wish to exploit this backdoor, it has bought precious time for China.
Especially since China's response speed is far superior to that of foreign countries. On the first day after this incident occurred, relevant domestic departments immediately notified all institutions by phone, requesting them to disconnect their main servers from the network and back up all data as soon as possible to avoid the same desperate situation as abroad.
Although this led to various services being unavailable for over a day domestically, each company had corresponding contingency plans in place, so no significant negative impact was caused.
After the data was backed up, services were quickly restored, and from then on, there was essentially no need to worry about data encryption.
Of course, a portion of enterprises were still unfortunately affected, with their data encrypted and then extorted for enormous sums of money. However, overall, this was still within an acceptable range for the market and did not shake the overall situation.
These extorted companies also immediately became prime examples for news media, reported to readers across the nation.
However, after failing to extort companies, many people began to turn their attention to ordinary individuals. Some directly turned the backdoor program into a virus and disseminated it in batches. These viruses would automatically infiltrate users' computers, encrypt and package their data, and then provide an address for payment.
Because the virus executed everything automatically, its extortion efficiency was astonishing. By the time ordinary users discovered it, over 12.3% of personal computers nationwide had their personal data encrypted by this ransomware. Countless people's precious hard drive data, accumulated over many years, vanished.
Thus, internal anger within China instantly surpassed that abroad.
Although the actual losses abroad were more severe, and the economy would suffer a significant blow, the computers of the vast majority of ordinary people were not attacked by the ransomware.
This was the opposite of the situation domestically: most corporate computers were saved, but ordinary people's computers suffered heavy losses. The internet was immediately filled with accusations against Microsoft and the United States, with all sorts of voices that need not be repeated here. In short, if Bill Gates understood Chinese, he would likely have been angered to death.
As the ransomware outbreak spread, those who had initially believed the "Lj incident" was trivial and would not affect them in any way, now understood that they had fallen into a great crisis. Everyone at Fantasy Computer was working overtime frantically.
On one hand, all employees were trying to back up their personal and company data, while on the other hand, Yang Yuan was furious.
However, this anger was not directed at his own employees, but at the damned Microsoft.
"What the hell are those scoundrels at Microsoft doing? Why haven't they released the patch yet!" Yang Yuan angrily questioned the computer screen in the office.
On the other end of the screen was the head of Fantasy Computer's US headquarters, a standard Caucasian male.
"Sir, Microsoft has not yet admitted that this incident was caused by a backdoor in their system!" the Caucasian man replied to his boss's anger, his expression unchanged, even with a hint of composure.
"Yes, how dare they admit it? Admitting it is tantamount to signing their death warrant!" Yang Yuan gritted out.
Some people might find it strange: anyone with eyes and a brain can see that the problem lies with the backdoor provided by Microsoft, so why is Microsoft so stubbornly refusing to admit it?
It's simple: it all hinges on the impact of this backdoor.
If this backdoor caused no major problems, if the losses were within the hundreds of millions, then Microsoft had no need to admit it and could simply try to resolve the issue by spending money.
But if the losses caused by this backdoor were between one hundred million and one billion, Microsoft would still admit it, offer a perfunctory apology, quickly fix the problem, and try to minimize compensation, and the matter would be over.
However, when the losses caused by this backdoor reached the current level, Microsoft understood very well that they absolutely could not admit it.
It wasn't that the problem wouldn't exist if it wasn't admitted. Rather, as long as it wasn't admitted, the problem could not legally be attributed to Microsoft for the time being, meaning no legal action could be taken against Microsoft. Microsoft could remain free for a period.
And during this period of freedom, Microsoft could accomplish many things and find ways to resolve the issue.
The best outcome, naturally, would be to shift the blame, using all means to attribute the problem to another company or a minor figure within a company, thus concluding the matter.
A middling outcome would be to take advantage of this time to destroy evidence and reach a rescue plan with those behind them. When the trial began, they could also try their best to delay court proceedings.
As long as they could drag it out for two to three years, the immense anger would eventually subside, and Microsoft would have a great chance of surviving.
The worst-case scenario would still allow them to transfer a large amount of assets. Even if Microsoft were eventually found guilty, required to pay huge compensation, and some individuals were imprisoned.
But what did it matter? As long as the money in the hands of the bosses behind them was preserved, it didn't matter if Microsoft died. The big bosses would suffer no losses.
Conversely, if Microsoft were to openly admit the problem was theirs now, there wouldn't even be a need for a legal trial. Some government agencies could directly issue various measures to freeze all of Microsoft's evidence and funds. The previously mentioned three scenarios—best, middling, and worst—would all become impossible.
Therefore, even if their mouths were smashed, Microsoft absolutely could not admit that the problem was on their end.
In fact, Yang Yuan had never expected Microsoft to admit fault. He only hoped that Microsoft would quickly release a patch to plug that backdoor. Only then would users be willing to continue purchasing computers that could only install Windows.
Otherwise, who would dare to continue using a system where all data could be locked by ransomware at any moment?
Especially the procurement by public institutions, which could be described as the lifeline of Fantasy Computer. Currently, over 70% of procurement parties had called to express their intention to suspend purchases until the Windows system was confirmed to be safe for use. Otherwise, there would be no need to buy Fantasy computers.
This was the most fatal problem for Fantasy Computer.
But the issue was that it was one thing for Microsoft not to admit its problems; even the timely patch to seal the backdoor was also not being released to the entire network.
In Yang Yuan's view, this was a matter with no operational or choice difficulty. Secretly releasing this backdoor patch as a normal system update, and quickly ending the severe impact of this problem, preventing losses from increasing, wasn't this the obvious course of action?
Why, after almost a week, was Microsoft still delaying the release of this backdoor patch?
If possible, Yang Yuan truly wanted to go to Microsoft himself and patch this backdoor. But the problem was, this backdoor was opened directly in the most fundamental architecture of the Windows system. Unless Fantasy Computer made modifications from the ground up, this patch could not be completed.
But doing so would be equivalent to building a system from scratch. Fantasy Computer did not have the ability or strength for this. Only Microsoft itself in the entire world could achieve this.
"Could it be that Microsoft itself can't patch this backdoor either?" Suddenly, an extremely ominous premonition arose in Yang Yuan's mind.
"Fuck!"
"Fuck!"
Outside the CEO's office at Microsoft headquarters, everyone could hear the roar of Microsoft's current CEO, Steve Ballmer.
Yang Yuan never imagined that his guess would be correct. Microsoft simply could not produce the patch for this backdoor.
"Satya Nadella, I will kill you! I will make you pay!" Suddenly, a bald, bespectacled man stumbled out of the CEO's office. The bright red slap mark on his face clearly indicated the terrible treatment he had received inside.
But strangely, as this man passed by the offices, not a single colleague showed him any sympathy. Instead, they were all filled with anger, and some even couldn't help but clench their fists at him. This forced Satya Nadella to cover his head and leave the office as quickly as possible, and also to leave Microsoft.
So the question arises: why was Satya Nadella so unlucky as to become the object of universal anger from everyone at Microsoft, to the point that even the CEO couldn't help but lay hands on him in the office, even slapping him directly?
This was naturally because Satya Nadella had indeed made a huge mistake, a mistake so colossal that even though he had been designated as the successor to the next CEO by the board, and the de facto second-in-command of Microsoft, whose authority in certain matters even surpassed CEO Steve Ballmer, he still could not compensate for or conceal his error.
Because it was he who caused Microsoft to be unable to even produce a backdoor patch.