In a major cyber attack, nearly hundred countries, including India, were hit which experts said was carried out with the help of "cyber weapons" stolen from the US National Security Agency.
An increase in activity of the malware was noticed on Friday, security software company Avast reported, adding that it "quickly escalated into a massive spreading".
Within hours, over 75,000 attacks were detected worldwide, the company said. Meanwhile, the MalwareTech tracker detected over 100,000 infected systems over the past 2 days.
According to a report by The Times of India, about 70% of the ATMs in India are vulnerable to such global cyberattacks and one of the primary reasons behind is the use of Windows XP version which crippled information systems across the globe.
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In 2014, Microsoft had stopped providing support security patches and other tool for Window XP, however, the vendors still provide banks with these outdated systems.
On Saturday, Microsoft said it had released updates for older systems. “Given the potential impact to customers and their businesses, we have also released updates for Windows XP, Windows 8, and Windows Server 2003,“ informed a Microsoft spokesperson, the TOI report added.
Security researchers with Kaspersky Lab have recorded more than 45,000 attacks in 99 countries, including the UK, Russia, Ukraine, India, China, Italy, and Egypt. In Spain, major companies including telecommunications firm Telefonica were infected.
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The most disruptive attacks were reported in the UK, where hospitals and clinics were forced to turn away patients after losing access to computers.
The US Computer Emergency Readiness Team (USCRT) under the Department of Homeland Security said it has received multiple reports of WannaCry ransomware infections in many countries around the world.
The ransomware is a type of malicious software that infects a computer and restricts users access to it until a ransom is paid to unlock it. It demands users pay USD 300 worth of cryptocurrency Bitcoin to retrieve their files, though it warns that the payment will be raised after a certain amount of time. The malware spreads through email.
(With PTI inputs)
