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Tens of thousands of ransomware attacks are targeting organizations around the world on Friday.
Security firm Kaspersky Lab has recorded more than 45,000 attacks in 74 countries in the past 10 hours. Most of the attacks have targeted Russia.
What is it?
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. Researchers say it is spreading througha Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30) Windows exploit called "EternalBlue," which Microsoft released a patch for in March. A hacking group leaked the exploit in a trove of other NSA spy tools last month.
"Affected machines have six hours to pay up and every few hours the ransom goes up," said Kurt Baumgartner, the principal security researcher at Kaspersky Lab. "Most folks that have paid up appear to have paid the initial $300 in the first few hours."
Read more http://money.cnn.com/2017/05/12/technology/ransomware-attack-nsa-microsoft/index.html
Security firm Kaspersky Lab has recorded more than 45,000 attacks in 74 countries in the past 10 hours. Most of the attacks have targeted Russia.
What is it?
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. Researchers say it is spreading througha Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30) Windows exploit called "EternalBlue," which Microsoft released a patch for in March. A hacking group leaked the exploit in a trove of other NSA spy tools last month.
"Affected machines have six hours to pay up and every few hours the ransom goes up," said Kurt Baumgartner, the principal security researcher at Kaspersky Lab. "Most folks that have paid up appear to have paid the initial $300 in the first few hours."
Read more http://money.cnn.com/2017/05/12/technology/ransomware-attack-nsa-microsoft/index.html
