Ransomware: WannaCry

As you are probably aware, there is a massive ransomware that has affected over 140 countries including Canada and the United States. We want to inform you of the attack, as well as what precautions you must take at this time. Yes...if you are were to get infected with this ransomware...it definitely will make you wanna cry!

Ransomware Wannacry also known as Wanna crypt, is a virus/malware that enters your system via email and infects your computer and then starts migrating to other computers/servers via mapped drives. The malware targets older Windows systems and unpatched Windows computers.

Victoria Woollaston from Wired explains it simply; "once inside the system WannaCry ransomware creates encrypted copies of specific file types before deleting the originals, leaving the victims with the encrypted copies, which can't be accessed without a decryption key. WannaCry additionally increases the ransom amount, and threatens loss of data, at a predetermined time, creating a sense of urgency and greatly improving the chances victims will pay the ransom."

The agencies suggest against paying the ransom but businesses who are in jeopardy have already paid up to $50,000 in bitcoin to gain access to their own data!

As you can see, it is very important to analyze your emails before opening them and be even more cautious before you click on any of the links in the email. Your data is at stake!

Also, please have your IT personnel patch all your Windows based computers and servers with the latest security updates and patches from Microsoft. If you are using Windows XP, it is no longer supported by Microsoft, however a patch has been released by Microsoft to help prevent this attack. Please contact Pro-Active IT to act on this ASAP.