Are you safe by the Hackers Global attack?
During the last week, many industries and companies were attacked by a global malware. It has also affected few Australian organisations and NHS (National Health Service) in the UK.
This global cyber attack of ransomware using tools developed by the USA NSA (National Security Agency) has infected many computers around the world, including the global FeDEX.
Cyber security experts are recommending all people to keep their devices updated with the most recent version.
Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) has requested to anyone who has been affected by this ransomware to report them.
Here some points mentioned by ACSC:
Key points
- The ACSC is aware of a large-scale Ransomware campaign impacting many organisations globally, including the UK’s National Health Service. The campaign has various names including “WanaCryt0r”, “WannaCrypt”, “WanaCry”, “WanaDecryptor”, or “Wana”.
- The Ransomware leverages publically known vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows, patched by Microsoft in March this year (Microsoft Security Bulletin MS17-010)
- Microsoft has released updates for Windows XP, Windows 8 and Windows Server 2003. Downloads are linked from Microsoft’s article: Customer Guidance for WannaCrypt attacks.
- Australian organisations are strongly recommended to apply these patches as soon as possible to prevent infection by this Ransomware campaign. Users should also ensure that they have backed up their important data to an offline location.
- Organisations that apply the ASD Essential Eight mitigation strategies are not affected by this Ransomware campaign.
- If Australian organisations are infected, they should seek assistance in the first instance from the Australian Cyber Security Centre via the number 1300 CYBER1. We encourage reporting cyber security incidents to enable the ACSC to alert and assist a broader range of organisations, and understand the scope and nature of cyber intrusions.
How ransomware works: an explanation of WannaCry: