Global cyber chaos is spreading Monday as companies boot up computers at work following the weekend's worldwide "ransomware" cyberattack.
This is an emerging pattern in 2017. Also known as "WannaCryptor 2.0" or simply "WCry 2.0", the virus hits Russian Interior Ministry, Russian Railways and mobile service provider Megafon.
This malware attack that infected around 57,000 computers the world over, in the beginning, has now increased to over 2,00,000 in 150 countries including Russian Federation and the United Kingdom and is considered as one of the most widespread cyber attacks in history.
The main element of the ransomware, though, is a window with a bunch of information about what has happened, links about Bitcoin, and the mechanism for making payment.
The non-profit US Cyber Consequences Unit research institute estimated that the total losses would range in the hundreds of millions of dollars, but not exceed US$1 billion (S$1.39 billion).
Microsoft is blaming the USA government.
WannaCry exploits a Windows vulnerability codenamed EternalBlue, which has been patched by Microsoft in an update deployed on March 14.
The government on Sunday said it has activated a "preparedness and response mechanism" to prevent any major cyber damage from the ransomware.
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Further to ensure that individual laptops or desktops of employees do not remain vulnerable, banks have been instructed to update the patch in all the employee computers connected with their system.
Vu Ngoc Son, deputy head of the anti-malware department of Bkav Corporation, the largest internet security firm in Vietnam, said that the WannaCry ransomware's behaviour is "not new", but he believes that the use of this ransomware will not really ease up as "it can directly earn large profits for hackers".
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Jonathan Sander, chief technology officer for STEALTHbits Technologies, called WannaCry "a Frankenstein's monster of vulnerabilities with patches and exploits that were stolen from the NSA and published for all to see".
Europe's cross-border police agency chief Rob Wainwright said the attack was "unprecedented" and they are working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to identify those behind the malware who are now unknown.
Microsoft itself is unlikely to face legal trouble over the flaw in Windows being exploited by WannaCry, according to legal experts.
"T$3 his attack provides yet another example of why the stockpiling of vulnerabilities by governments is such a problem", he said.
As MalwareTech noted in a blog post afterward, the ransomware was written to connect to an unregistered domain and "if the connection is not successful it ransoms the system, if it is successful the malware exits".
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