More about WannaCry Ransomware & Security Advice

Finally it’s over, the WannaCry Ransomware which affected more than 230,000 victims in 150 countries has been stopped by a 22 year old young cyber expert Marcus Hutchins by accidentally triggering a “kill switch”.

As per reports of the Telegraph UK, Marcus Hutchins mentioned in his blog that he purchased a web domain for £8 and directed the virus to it.  He accidentally stopped the virus from spreading and locking a large number of computers. Marcus Hutchins, however, warns that the attacker could make changes to the code and the Ransomware can resume back.

The Attack:

Suddenly on 12^th May 2017, Friday became a nightmare for National Health Service of Britain including many public and private organisations in Russia and China. A message displayed on the computer screen ‘Oops Your Files Have been encrypted”.  This message accompanied the entire process to decrypt the files but not without the payment of $300 in bitcoins. After it hit the National Health Service in Britain, doctors found many important patient files locked down. Starting with few countries, soon it spread to 150 nations with some being worst affected.

Cyber Experts Says:

According to many Cyber Experts, the malware manifests itself on vulnerable Windows computers. Due to an old security hole in some versions of Windows OS, the WannaCry Ransomware virus has spread from device to device. However, the latest version of Windows has this hole fixed.

REVE Antivirus has been closely monitoring the entire situation and as a protective measure, REVE Antivirus users are advised to update their Antivirus Signature and also keep a backup of important data.

As per REVE Antivirus team, Ransomware can also spread through attachments in unsolicited emails. So, it is important for users not to click on any attachment that appears to be suspicious or sent by any stranger. Organisations should update the latest Microsoft security patches and also ensure that all incoming and outgoing emails are scanned by an anti-malware software. Read more – WannaCry – The Latest Ransomware That Took the Cyber World by Storm