What is "WannaCry"?
The "WannaCry" ransomware is the latest ransomware malware in the market. Ransomware effectively renders your computer useless by encrypting all your personal files and asking for you to pay a ransom before being able to decrypt them.
Officially known as WannaCrypt0r, this ransomware uses a vulnerability called "EternalBlue". This vulnerability was released along with various NSA hacking tools and vulnerabilities by the Shadowbrokers group on April 14th of this year. It was officially patched by Microsoft on the 14th March, 2017. The "EternalBlue" vulnerability exploits an SMBv1 and/or SMBv2 vulnerability in Windows systems newer than 2003 to remotely execute code on your PC. The ransomware installs itself on your computer, encrypts your files, and then gives you a popup screen asking for money to be paid (usually $300) to a certain bitcoin address.
Many organizations across the world, including the National Health Service in the UK, have been affected by the attack. More than 100,000 computers in over 90 countries have already been infected.
How do I protect myself from it?
The easiest and best way to prevent yourself from being infected is to download the official Microsoft Windows patch for it (if your PC doesn't already have it installed).
After installing the patch, your PC should be immune to this attack.
Even though it's relatively easy to prevent, many people just haven't bothered to update their Windows computers. Remember to always update your computer.
One of the urgent issues this ought to alert people to is that the Windows vulnerability, and the means with which to exploit it, was developed by the NSA. That means, a US govt agency working to undermine the security of the operating system most commonly used by US citizens, which is also made by a US company. And the NSA then lost control over the tools they created to do this. Evil and incompetence married.
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