On May 12th, 2017, the world was hit by a cyber-attack that caused chaos and panic among organizations and people alike. So far, more than 200,000 computers in 150 countries have been affected, with victims including hospitals, banks, telecommunications companies and warehouses.
WannaCry, Wanna Decryptor, WannaCrypt – whatever it’s referred to as, is by and large the same bitcoin-demanding beast. In this article, we explain everything we know about the ransomware that has been raking havoc globally and how you can safeguard yourself against this threat.
WHAT IS WannaCry RANSOMWARE?
WannaCry is an encryption-based ransomware that encrypts files on a system with AES and RSA ciphers. This means the hackers can directly decrypt the files on an infected system using a unique decryption key.
Once WannaCry ransomware infects a system it creates encrypted copies of specific file types before deleting the originals. The victims are then left with encrypted copies, which can’t be accessed without a decryption key. Additionally they increase the ransom amount, and threaten loss of data over time, creating a sense of urgency, greatly improving their chances of getting paid by the victims. Read more