Six ways to prevent WannaCry ransomware attack

The problem was then isolated, before work was undertaken to cleanse and fix it from a malicious programme known as ransomware.

He became an global sensation after he prevented hundreds of thousands of computers from being infected by the virus that wreaked havoc across the NHS. It is encrypting files and demanding that victims pay $300 worth of bitcoins to have the files unlocked. That’s why it’s called ransomware.

Sunday’s salvo tacitly noted the NSA’s key role in Friday’s attack, which copied nearly verbatim large sections of two highly advanced hacking tools that were stolen from the NSA and leaked to the world at large last month by a mysterious group calling itself Shadow Brokers. This software was developed by NSA and funded by American taxpayers.

In August 2016, a group calling itself The Shadow Brokers began posting materials from that stolen cache of programs online.

Microsoft distributed the patch two months ago, which could have forestalled much of the attack, but in many organizations it was likely lost among the blizzard of updates and patches that large corporations and governments strain to manage.

In July, the NHS regulator, the Care Quality Commission, and the national data guardian, Dame Fiona Caldicott, warned that the threat of such attacks “has not only put patient information at risk of loss or compromise but also jeopardises access to critical patient record systems by clinicians”.

Experts explain, 80% of ATMs in India operates on Windows XP, on top of that there is a firmware that runs it.

The attack has hit more than 200,000 victims across the world since Friday and is seen as an “escalating threat”, said Rob Wainwright, the head of Europol, Europe’s policing agency.

It crippled Britain’s National Health Service; patients expecting scheduled operations were turned away.

Some hospitals were forced to cancel treatments and appointments, and divert ambulances to other sites.

Also hit were Deutsche Bahn, the Russian Central Bank, Russian Railways, Russia’s Interior Ministry, Megafon and Telefónica.

Analyst house Gartner predicted that there would be 2 billion PCs in use globally by 2014, but there have been no updated figures since then.

How can I protect my computer from the ransomware virus?

Microsoft has introduced a security patch to tackle the situation, and consumers across the globe have been advised to download the solution at the earliest. Install all Windows updates. 5. Smith’s criticism came as security professionals around the world prepared for a possible new round of attacks on Monday that some said might be fiercer. Several potentially affected computers could be waiting to be discovered, when switched on by unsuspecting users.

14 of the biggest cyber-attacks, hacks and data breaches in history.

“The numbers are going up; I am anxious about how the numbers will continue to grow when people go to work and turn (on) their machines on Monday morning”.

Concerns remain as workers return to the office on Monday a second wave of attacks could emerge.

Experts say the spread of the virus had been stymied by a security researcher in the United Kingdom hackers have issued new versions of the virus that cyber security organizations are actively trying to counter and stamp out.