WannaCry Ransomware: The Next Generation Blackmail?

On Friday 12 May 2017, the cyber world saw a one of a kind attack on Microsoft’s Windows operating systems computers. Hackers could take control of any computer and deny the users access till a ransom was paid.
The attack affected computers in over 150 countries in less than a day with around 57,000 infections including India. Affected computers were left with a message on how to pay the hackers. The payments ranged from $300 to $600, roughly Rs. 19,000 to Rs. 38,000.

Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai seem to be the cities affected by this virus. Computers in 18 police stations in Andhra Pradesh were also hacked. India’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERN) issued a red alert while advising users and organizations to apply patches to Windows. UK, Russia, and Ukraine are among the countries infected.
The virus successfully encrypted the computer’s hard disk and then spread between computers on the same LAN and malicious attachments to emails. This attack had crippled hospitals, banks, government agencies and more than 200,000 computers over the weekend.