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Global Ransomware Attack Causes Turmoil by megafem1: 9:02pm On Jun 27, 2017 |
Companies across the globe are reporting
that they have been struck by a major
ransomware cyber-attack.
British advertising agency WPP is among
those to say its IT systems have been
disrupted as a consequence.
Ukrainian firms, including the state power
company and Kiev's main airport, were
among the first to report issues.
The Chernobyl nuclear power plant has also
had to monitor radiation levels manually
after its Windows-based sensors were shut
down.
The Russian anti-virus firm Kaspersky Lab
said its analysis showed that there had
been about 2,000 attacks - most in Ukraine,
Russia and Poland.
The international police organisation
Interpol has said it was "closely monitoring"
the situation and liaising with its member
countries.
Experts suggest the malware is taking
advantage of the same weaknesses used by
the Wannacry attack last month.
"It initially appeared to be a variant of a
piece of ransomware that emerged last
year," said computer scientist Prof Alan
Woodward.
"The ransomware was called Petya and the
updated version Petrwrap.
"However, now that's not so clear."
The malware hall of fame
What can you do to protect your
business?
The Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky
Lab reported that it believed the malware
was a "new ransomware that has not been
seen before" despite its resemblance to
Petya.
As a result, the firm has dubbed it NotPetya.
Kaspersky added that it had detected
suspected attacks in Poland, Italy, Germany,
France and the US in addition to the UK,
Russia and Ukraine.
Andrei Barysevich, a spokesman for security
firm Recorded Future, told the BBC such
attacks would not stop because cyber-
thieves found them too lucrative.
"A South Korean hosting firm just paid $1m
to get their data back and that's a huge
incentive," he said. "It's the biggest incentive
you could offer to a cyber-criminal."
A bitcoin wallet associated with the
outbreak has received several payments
since the outbreak began. The wallet
currently holds three bitcoins (£5,640;
$7,240).
Cyber-attack: Is my computer at risk?
WannaCry: Your questions answered
An email address associated with the
blackmail attempt has been blocked by
German independent email provider Posteo.
It means that the blackmailers have not
been able to access the mailbox.
Problems have also affected:
the Ukrainian central bank, the aircraft
manufacturer Antonov, and two postal
services
Russia's biggest oil producer, Rosneft
Danish shipping company Maersk,
including its container shipping, oil, gas
and drilling operations
a Pennsylvania hospital operator,
Heritage Valley Health System, which
reported its computer network was
down, causing operations to be delayed
- but it is not yet clear if it was subject to
the same type of attack
Spanish food giant Mondelez - whose
brands include Oreo and Toblerone -
according to the country's media
Netherlands-based shipping company
TNT, which said some of its systems
needed "remediation"
French construction materials company
St Gobain
US pharmaceuticals-maker Merck and
the local offices of the law firm DLA Piper
- a sign in the firm's Washington DC
office said: "Please remove all laptops
from docking stations and keep turned
off - no exceptions."
The attacks come two months after another
global ransomware assault, known as
Wannacry, which caused major problems for
the UK's National Health Service.
Veteran security expert Chris Wysopal from
Veracode said the malware seemed to be
spreading via some of the same Windows
code loopholes exploited by Wannacry. Many
firms did not patch those holes because
Wannacry was tackled so quickly, he added.
Those being caught out were also industrial
firms that often struggled to apply software
patches quickly.
"These organisations typically have a
challenge patching all of their machines
because so many systems cannot have
down time," he said. "Airports also have this
challenge."
Copies of the virus have been submitted to
online testing systems that check if security
software, particularly anti-virus systems,
were able to spot and stop it.
"Only two vendors were able to detect it so
many systems are defenceless if they are
unpatched and relying on anti-virus," he
said.
Ukraine seems to have been particularly
badly hit this time round.
Reports suggest that the Kiev metro system
has stopped accepting payment cards while
several chains of petrol stations have
suspended operations.
Ukraine's deputy prime minister has
tweeted a picture appearing to show
government systems have been affected.
His caption reads: "Ta-daaa! Network is
down at the Cabinet of Minister's
secretariat." www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-40416611 |
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