On Friday, May 12th, a massive ransomware attack known as WannaCry has affected organizations in over 70 countries, dubbing it “the biggest ransomware outbreak in history” according to F-Secure, a Helsinki-based cybersecurity company.
WannaCry has infected thousands of machines globally, including FedEx, Nissan, Russian banks, German railways, and British hospitals. WannaCry spreads itself automatically across all workstations in a network. The ransomware asks $300 from victims to decrypt their computers for the first 6 hours and victims have up to 3 days to pay before it doubles to $600. If the victim does not pay within a week, then the ransomware threatens to delete all files.
If you or a co-worker are not paying attention and accidentally open one of these phishing email attachments, you might infect not only your own workstation, but immediately everyone else’s computer too. Be very careful when you get an email with an attachment you did not ask for. If there is a .zip file in the attachment, do not click on it but delete the whole email.
According to SonicWall, any customer who is using their Firewall Gateway Security Services has their network protected from WannaCry. Most of our customers have this protection in place. Those of you who don’t will be receiving a quotation to add it.
Even though here in Canada we appear to have “dodged a bullet” with this attack, it doesn’t mean we won’t be affected by the next one. Your employees are still your greatest vulnerability for ransomware attacks and they need training. BSC offers Phishing Security Testing and Training. Contact us today for more details.
