Cyber attack is biggest of its kind ever launched, say security chiefs

“In an interview on ABC’s Good Morning America, Tom Bossert, the homeland security adviser of President Donald Trump said people should consider the Wannacry ransomware attack to be “under control” right now” but “represents an extremely serious threat”.

Jan Op Gen Oorth, spokesman for Europol, said the number of individuals who have fallen victim to the cyberextortion attack could be much higher.

“An equivalent scenario with conventional weapons would be the United States military having some of its Tomahawk missiles stolen”, Smith wrote.

“We are taking immediate steps to minimise the impact of the attack across NHS Scotland and restrict any disruption”.

Smith warned governments against stockpiling such vulnerabilities and said instead they should report them to manufacturers – not sell, store or exploit them, lest they fall into the wrong hands.

Windows users should update their software to avoid the ransomware, security experts say.

Responding to the incident, the company’s president and chief legal officer, Brad Smith, criticized the USA government’s weaponizing of computer vulnerabilities, the leak of which enabled this attack, and the dangers of not informing tech companies about them.

Urging businesses and computer users to keep their systems current and updated, Smith says the WannaCry attack shows the importance of collective action to fight cyber crime.

Some Chinese government sectors, including traffic, police, immigration, social security, and industry, were also hit by the virus, Reuters reported, citing microblogs.

“It seems that a lot of internet security guys over the weekend did their homework and ran the security software updates”, he said.

Kerala, Kolkata hit The computers of two village panchayats in Kerala have been reportedly hit by WannaCry with messages pop-ups demanding $300 in virtual currency to unlock the files. The list includes the Russian interior ministry, FedEx, National Health Service of Britain, the production unit of Renault Dacia in Mioveni, a Nissan production plant in England, German rail operator Deutsche Bahn, Spanish telecom giant Telefonica, Portuguese telecom operator Portugal Telecom and the Argentinian Telefonica Argentina among others.

“Movies are played by a separate server“, the official said, adding “we plan to normalize the situation as soon as possible“. This was the first large scale ransomware attack to utilize Bitcoin as a payment option.

The virus has hit at least 150 countries and claimed 200,000 victims, according to the European Union’s law enforcement agency Europol.

Chris Camacho, chief strategy officer at the cybersecurity firm Flashpoint, told ABC News that health care companies were particularly ripe for ransomware attacks like this one because patient records are so critical to care.

He said the software attacking a vulnerability had been incorporated with other software and delivered in a way to cause “infection, encryption and locking”.

The first appearance of the cyberattack was registered in Europe at what would have been 3:24 a.m.

York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said some out-patient appointments had been cancelled on Monday, especially at Selby War Memorial Hospital, but most were not affected.