London – A cyberattack that is forcing computer owners to pay hundreds of dollars in ransom to unlock their files has hit almost every corner of the world.
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F-Secure on Friday says it’s gotten reports from more than 60 countries. Mikko Hypponen, its chief research officer, calls it “the biggest ransomware outbreak in history.”
Security experts from Kaspersky Lab and Avast Software say Russia was the hardest hit, followed by Ukraine and Taiwan.
Researchers believe a criminal organization is behind this, given its sophistication.
Kurt Baumgartner, principal security researcher at Kaspersky, says the malware has translations in dozens of languages, such that instructions for paying the ransom are displayed in the language set for that computer.
He and others say the malware takes advantage of an exploit purportedly identified by the National Security Agency.
The real problem, the real virus, the real malware is Microsoft. It has always been that way. When do you hear of this happening to Linux or BSD computers?
While it may not be certain that this outbreak comes from the leak of the vulnerability identified by the NSA, in all probability it does. And the leak in all probability is a direct result of Obama’s last-minute change in policy so as to share more openly between the 17 secret service organizations. So in all probability, they can thank Obama for this.
Interesting isn’t it? Many of today’s news stories and scandals involve hacking and poor computer hygiene. At this point, I do not blame anyone who is hacked. I presume we all are.