A NEW STRAIN of ransomware has spread quickly all over the world, causing crises in National Health Service hospitals and facilities around England, and gaining particular traction in Spain, where it has hobbled the large telecom company Telefonica, the natural gas company Gas Natural, and the electrical company Iberdrola. You know how people always talk about the Big One? As far as ransomware attacksgo, this looks a whole lot like it.
The ransomware strain WannaCry (also known as WanaCrypt0r and WCry) that caused Friday’s barrage appears to be a new variant of a type that first appeared in late March. This new version has only gained steam since its initial barrage, with tens of thousands of infections in 74 countries so far today as of publication time. Its reach extends beyond the UK and Spain, into Russia, Taiwan, France, Japan, and dozens more countries.
Hospitals make for popular ransomware victims because they have an urgent need to restore service for their patients. They may, therefore, be more likely to pay criminals to reinstate systems. They also often make for relatively easy targets.
“In healthcare and other sectors we tend to be very slow to address these vulnerabilities,” says Lee Kim, the director of privacy and security at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. “But whoever is behind this is clearly extremely serious.”