Large-scale cyber attack disabled tens of thousands of computers all around the world. Intruders want 300 dollars in bitcoins to unlock the data. This was reported on Twitter by Jakub Kroustek, one of the cyber security specialists from Avast company.
57,000 detections of #WannaCry (aka #WanaCypt0r aka #WCry) #ransomware by Avast today. More details in blog post: https://t.co/PWxbs8LZkk
— Jakub Kroustek (@JakubKroustek) 12 мая 2017 г.
According to him, at least 57 thousand computers were affected — all of them were infected with WannaCry decrypting application or its variations. This virus encrypts information on a computer and demands to pay 300 dollar ransom in bitcoins to decrypt everything.
"According to our data, the ransomware is mainly being targeted to Russia, Ukraine and Taiwan, but the ransomware has successfully infected major institutions, like hospitals across England and Spanish telecommunications company, Telefonica," Kroustek noted.
The company strongly suggested all Windows users to completely update their systems with the latest patches.
"Avast detects all known versions of WanaCrypt0r 2.0, but we strongly recommend all Windows users fully update their system with the latest available patches. We will continue to monitor this outbreak and update this blog post when we have further updates," he concluded.
It is noteworthy that there is no information currently whether it was a centralized attack or it is carried out by separate groups.
