World wide Cyber attack causes panic

99 countries across the world, including India have been attacked by a massive cyber attack demanding ransom for restoration of the stolen data.

The US Computer Emergency Readiness Team (USCERT) which works under the Department of Homeland Security, said it had received the multiple threats from Ransom ware, a type of malicious software that infects a computer and restricts users’ access to it until a ransom is paid to unlock it.

This infection spreads easily when it encounters unpatched or outdated software. The agencies, individuals and organisations were advised not to pay any kind of ransom as that does not ensure restoration of data.

In a statement, Avast Threat Lab said it had observed a massive peak in WanaCrypt0r 2.0 attacks, with more than 36,000 detections, so far.In another statement, FedEx said it had been badly hit by the cyber attack.

“The WannaCry ransomware also known as WannaCry or Wanna Decryptor, the so-called ransomware program homes in on vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows systems,” read the Wall Street Journal.

Russia and Taiwan are the worst hit but as many as 99 countries, including Britain, France, India and Sweden were hit by this cyber attack. This was done by the help of tools stolen from the National Security Agency (NSA) of the United States, it was believed.

The best way to protect your computer is to create regular backups of your files. The malware only affects files that exist in the computer. If you have created a thorough backup and your machine is infected with ransomware, you can reset your machine ,reinstall the software and restore your files from the backup.