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Briefing
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- Massive Ransomware Cyberattack – Massive ransomware cyberattack that started May 12, 2017, demanding payment of $300 in cryptocurrency bitcoin, affected 200,000 computers in 150 countries including U.K., Russia, India, China, U.S., and Spain as of May 14, 2017
- Ransomware Defined – Type of malware that encrypts user’s data, with hackers asking for payment to unlock data
- Massive Effect – Affected large organizations including U.K.'s National Health Service (NHS), Germany’s rail company Deutsche Bahn, Spain’s telecommunications network Telefonica, French carmaker Renault, U.S. logistics company FedEx, and Russia’s Interior Ministry, as well as small businesses and individuals
- Targets Windows Systems – Takes advantage of vulnerability in Microsoft systems, for which Microsoft has released update in March 2017 to fix flaw, but many systems affected still run Microsoft's outdated operating system Windows XP
- Temporary Fix – U.K. security researcher and cyber blogger stopped spread of malware by registering domain name that malware was connecting to, but warned hackers can change code easily and spread new ransomware attack in future
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Organization
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Deutsche Bahn AG, FedEx Corp., Group Renault, Ministry of the Interior of the Russian Federation, Telefónica SA, UK National Health Service
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