A large-scale cyber hacking attempt has been confirmed on windows operating systems. Approximately 75,000 computers of around 100 countries on May 12, 2017. According to the media reports, the most probable reason is the security flaw found in Microsoft Windows OS, which allowed hackers to jump into the network. Earlier this attack took place on a small scale at the institutional level but it gradually moved to many hospitals in England under National Health Service (NHS), FedEx and even Telefonica, a Spanish Telecom giant.
The hackers performed the attack using the WanaCrypt0r 2.0 – an encryption-based ransomware that encrypts the system files and keeps it unless money is paid to the source person. Even the owner-creators of the WanaCypt0r and WannaCry, a decryptor software are also surprised with the global reach on a massive scale and even they are making a fortune from this hacking attempt.
Russia is the most affected country in the world followed by England, India, Ukraine.
Around 16 hospitals are under this NHS attack.
As it is a ransomware, the hackers are demanding payment in the form of Bitcoins – a form of digital money. Hackers also threatened to say, if the ransom money is not transferred, the encrypted data will be deleted.
Telefonica
Telefonica, a telecom giant of Spain confirmed the hack “cybersecurity incident” which affected the computers at its Madrid headquarters.
Official tweet from NHS iMerseyside
Our statement on the reported ransomware issues: https://t.co/Pt47dvpbiR #nhscyberattack
— NHS Digital (@NHSDigital) May 12, 2017
The ransomware is a kind of attack, which spreads through the network, so a single affected computer can affect the other devices in the network as well. This led to the spread of virus even worse.
According to the TechCrunch, the ransomware’s code makes it pretty clear that it’s taking advantage of an exploit called EternalBlue published in April by the Shadow Brokers but patched preemptively by Microsoft in March.
Approx. 75,000 computers of around 100 countries are affected.
As mentioned above the numbers are too big to consider the hacking quantity.
