Thanks for being proactive National KE-CIRT/CC

The Ransomware has caused major distractions around the world, the most notable being [1]

1. Hospitals in UK where their data has been encrypted, and rendered unusable, to the point patients are being transferred to other hospitals, and reverting to manual filing

2. FedEx: The company said it was "experiencing interference with some of our Windows-based systems caused by malware" and was trying to fix the problems as quickly as possible.

3. Deutsche Bahn: The German railway company told CNNMoney that due to the attack "passenger information displays in some stations were inoperative" as were "some ticket machines."

4. Russian Central Bank: State media agency Tass reported the bank discovered malware bulk emails to banks

5. Telefónica: Spanish authorities confirmed the Spanish telecom company Telefónica (TEF) was one of the targets, though the attack affected only some computers

I'm afraid if this monster hits home, the devastation will be major. And who will bear the cost? The end users. Time to consider the strategy on Organisational level Operating System.

My advice is, if you have important data locked up, and you don't have backup, and you are ready to loose $300 to recover your data, paying the ransom may be your best bet (no surety you will get your data). That will be a lesson to backup, backup, backup. Also, stop using junk operating systems.

Of course there is the long debate on the cost of state sponsored cyber espionage: This ransomware is a grandchild of US's NSA cyber warfare tools (codenamed Eternalblue[2], and Doublepulsar[3]), which become public some months ago, and in the wrong hands, has led to "one of the largest weapon of mass destruction cyber attack ever carried out"

1. http://money.cnn.com/2017/05/13/technology/ransomware-attack-who-got-hurt/

2. https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/wana-decrypt0r-ransomware-using-nsa-exploit-leaked-by-shadow-brokers-is-on-a-rampage/

3. https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2017/05/12/nsa-exploit-used-by-wannacry-ransomware-in-global-explosion/#472b67ace599

Regards

______________________
Mwendwa Kivuva, Nairobi, Kenya
twitter.com/lordmwesh

On 13 May 2017 at 18:14, Gimode, Chiimbiru via kictanet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

Dear Listers,

Kindly see the attached Press Statement released this afternoon by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) on the emergence of an encryption based cyber attack WannaCrypt0r Ransomware Virus that is targeting computers running on Windows Operating System and is rapidly spreading worldwide.

This is for you information and noting.

Kind Regards,

Chiimbiru Gimode

Communications Authority of Kenya (CA)

Mobile: 0703042524 |Website: www.ca.go.ke |Twitter: @CA_Kenya

Facebook: Communications Authority of Kenya |YouTube: CA Kenya

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/cck-kenya

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