Wannacry Ransomeware Attack Cyber Criminals Earnings
Wannacry
The biggest cyberattack isn't over yet. It's called Wannacry. How applicable! Everyone who run into this ransomware wants to cry. The biggest ransomware attack in history has, according to Europol, infected two hundred thousand computers in 150 countries.
Stolen from NSA
This Wannacry digital espionage tool was stolen from the NSA. Through the Snowden reveals, we know that the NSA has a department where hacks are manufactured and weak spots in software are sought or built. Very dangerous material when cyber criminals get their hands on it.
Infected by Wannacry
When your computer is infected with this virus you'll get a ransom note from the cyber criminals with the request to pay $300 in bitcoins - and a timer!
Wannacry Earnings
This is not just for fun, those criminals are earning some nice pocket money. The Wannacry hackers managed to victimize over 200,000 computer systems in 150 different countries. And the number is still increasing. Journalists of Quartz developed a twitterbot that was linked to the hackers' 3 bitcoin wallets. You can follow their earnings on https://twitter.com/actual_ransom
What can you do to protect against Wannacry
- Keep Windows updated
- Do not ever click a link in your email, even emails from friend can be infected
- Install a good virus scan
- Make backups in the cloud or on an external disk
- Be very careful with opening PDF's, it seems the virus can be in there too
- Don't use an open WIFI network (airports, cafés, etc.)
- Use the Internet with the utmost caution
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Recent Comments
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One thing I learned today is that very few of the ransom-payers have reported getting their files back. The few that have been reported are unable to be verified by the news sources I've checked.
That's always the problem you pay the ransom to criminals in trust you get your stuff back, but they are and stay criminals after all
Yes, very true. Also, while their encryption software seems to be rock solid, many aspects of this attack are very amateurish. I would certainly not trust that they could deliver on their promise even if they wished to.
Or cheaper yet, just wipe the drive and reinstall the OS. This kind of attack is geared towards the many people who don't back up their files. It might be worth it for a small business to pay for their files back.
You are right, it is never a good idea to pay the ransom and you are right that they might not even be able to decrypt the files.
Backing up is the way to go. It can be difficult and expensive, but it is no different than having an insurance.
The hackers will eventually get caught. One ore more will slip up and leave "digital fingerprints". That one will rat out the others. Computer geeks don't fare well under interrogation.
I daresay, you're likely right. It seems to be the general concensus. With North Korea, cyberhacking may be the least of our problems.
Yes I agree Ed. If it is really true that they were hacked it shows some serious holes in their ability. If they were not hacked it shows their complicity.
So in that case we have a lack of confidence in the NSA's abilities. Unfortunate either way. Maybe we should just blame it on Russia like everything else? I jest.
NSA needs to grow before the cyber criminals do, we are too comfortable leaning back in our chairs
There is no evidence that the NSA was hacked directly. It is more likely that an insider stole the tools and then distributed them or lost control of them. Someone could have been disgruntled ala Snowden, wanted to make money with the tools, or another state actor wanted to score some points and make them look bad.
Yes, I understand. I was just replying to the thread where people were talking about hacking NSA and I took too long to research my reply, and now it just looks like I'm just repeating everyone else! :-) I should refresh before submitting a reply. That's happened to me a few times now.
Sounds familiar:) The other day I replied to someone, there wasn't any message yet, but I got a call in between, after that I send my reply and I was told. "Yes, I know it by now, it's no need to tell me for the 7th time!"
Oh yeah. Thanks for correcting me. Apologies for that Loes and Steve. The Devil's in the details.
I love the name of this attack! Lol! It's funny. I got a message from Norton saying it's all cool. We got this!
Please don't blame Snowden or Assange. What they have done is nothing compared to the acronym agencies of this world......
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Thanks for sharing , I have to emphasize this is one problem I find very hard to 'compute', but cyber criminals need to be 'Monitored'.
They sure need to watch and understand the dark web better