NHS 'robust' after cyber-attack

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Europol, the European Union's police agency, said the onslaught was at "an unprecedented level and will require a complex worldwide investigation to identify the culprits".

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said teams were "working round the clock" in response to the attack as it was reported up to 99 countries, including the USA and Russian Federation, were hit.

The ransomware, called "WannaCry", locks down all the files on an infected computer and asks the computer's administrator to pay in order to regain control of them.

The attack disrupted Britain's health system and companies including carmaker Renault and global shipper FedEx.

Citing a written statement by BTK, Turkey's official Anadolu news agency said the cyberattack affected 74 countries, "including Turkey in a small way".

"Once it gets in and starts moving across the infrastructure, there is no way to stop it", said Adam Meyers, a researcher with cyber security firm CrowdStrike.

According to Matthew Hickey, founder of the security firm Hacker House, Friday's attack is not surprising, and it shows many organizations do not apply updates in a timely fashion.

The malicious software behind the onslaught appeared to exploit a vulnerability in Microsoft Windows that was supposedly identified by the US National Security Agency for its own intelligence-gathering purposes and was later leaked to the internet.

"We are on a downward slope, the infections are extremely few, because the malware is not able to connect to the registered domain", Vikram Thakur, principal research manager at Symantec, told the Guardian.

But @MalwareTechBlog warned that the "crisis isn't over" as those behind it "can always change the code and try again".

The worm also goes by the name WannaCrypt or Wanna Decryptor.

Global cyber attack hits hospitals, schools and companies; India among countries hit
In Britain, the National Cyber Security Center said it is "working round the clock" with experts to restore vital health services. The attack, according to the source, allegedly came from cybercriminal group APT28, a group that is also known as Fancy Bear.

"It's unequivocally scary", said John Dickson of the Denim Group, a U.S. security consultancy.

"I'm watching how far this propagates and when governments get involved", he said.

The hunt was on for the culprits behind the assault, which was being described as the biggest cyber ransom attack ever.

Hospitals across England and Scotland have been simultaneously hit by a ransomware attack, NHS Digital has confirmed.

As a result, some hospitals and Global Positioning System have not been able to access patient data, computers were locked by Ransomware grogram demanding a payment worth of £230.

The window includes a countdown clock that threatens the files will be lost permanently in seven days.

CERT-In, in its advisory issued on Saturday, said that to prevent this infection, users and organisations are advised to apply patches to "Windows systems as mentioned in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS19-010".

"Unlike most other attacks, this malware is spreading primarily by direct infection from machine to machine on local networks, rather than purely by email", Lance Cottrell, chief scientist at the U.S. technology group Ntrepid. Users should download the patch before clicking on any link in email.

The sort of ransom demands have been growing precedent at medical facilities. The ransomware is automatically scanning for computers it can infect whenever it loads itself onto a new machine.

Bart's Health, which runs several London hospitals, said it had activated its major incident plan, cancelling routine appointments and diverting ambulances to neighboring hospitals. Spanish telecommunications firm Telefónica reportedly told staff to turn off computers and disconnect from the company internal VPN as soon as it was made aware of the situation.

"Appropriate economy-wide policy responses are needed", the ministers said in their draft statement, seen by Reuters.

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