WannaCry Ransomware explained and how to secure yourself against it

We have all heard about the “WannaCry” ransomware infecting the NHS is England and government institutions across China, US, Europe and Russia. This post is aimed at helping those from a non-technical background understand WannaCry and protect themselves against it.

Ransomware is malicious software that locks down all files on a computer in demand for payment, normally via bitcoin. Simply put, you cannot view any of the files on your computer until the ransom is paid. If payment is not made within the allotted time period the amount may increase, until eventually the timer reaches zero and all your files are deleted from your computer altogether. Look at this from the NHS point of view: patient medical records, communication tools and life-saving information could be lost. Any of the government institutions could also have national secrets stored on their systems which would also be lost.

Bitcoin is an online currency that is best known for being the currency of the dark web; it is an anonymous currency that is difficult to trace, which means that it is often used for illegal activity. Bitcoin can be exchanged for real currency and, fun fact, is currently worth more per unit than an ounce of gold.

WannaCry does not only affect big companies, however, it could also affect you so be sure to take immediate action to protect your data and computers.

Most versions of Windows are vulnerable to WannaCry, but if you keep your Windows software up-to-date on a regular basis you will have nothing to worry about, since Microsoft released a patch back in March. If, however, you ignore patches or click “update later”, you will want to check for updates and patch your computer immediately.

How to update windows:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/3067639/how-to-get-an-update-through-windows-update

Updating your anti-virus is usually as simple as finding the icon in the bottom right hand corner of your computer (near the time and date) and right clicking on it, then choosing update.

Tips for securing your computer:

Regularly back up all of your data by saving files onto another system or even better, an external hard drive than is not connected to the Internet.
Keep your anti-virus and software up to date; the updates don’t take long!
Never click on untrusted links or attachments in emails, even if they appear to be from a trusted source or on Facebook.
The MS17-010 Security patch can be found below:

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/security/ms17-010.aspx

WannaCry was a stolen cyber-weapon from the NSA called EternalBlue, NSA that was then used maliciously against various institutions and businesses across the globe. There are ties being made that North Korea are responsible, however this is mostly speculation at the moment as nothing has been proven.

If you would like to read more about this please see below:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2017/05/15/microsoft-slams-us-government-global-cyber-attack/

An attack of this scale shows the true power of computers and the Internet, so reduce the risk to yourself as much as possible by following the steps above.