Thousands of computers from all over the world were attacked by the Ransomware WannaCry, which held sensitive data of the victims as the hostage. The developers of the malware demanded money from the infected establishments in order for them to regain control of their machines; however, victims still refuse to pay, according to reports.
At first, the hackers were estimated to receive millions of dollars, but as it turns out, the group only managed to get around $90,000. This is based on the online tracking system that monitors the number of Bitcoins transferred to accounts designated by the hackers.
Infected establishments
A lot of businesses were affected by the malware, most notably hospitals. It was reported that hospitals that were hit by WannaCry had to turn away patients. Also, vital information about its patients is encrypted, jeopardizing people’s lives in the process.
The Japanese company Hitachi is one of the companies reportedly affected by the computer virus and says it has no intention of paying the ransom. Instead, the company focuses its attention to secure their system to prevent future attacks from hackers.
Another Japanese company giant, Nissan Motors, also declines to pay the ransom. In other cases, some of those affected by the malware simply cannot afford to pay the demand.
Victims told not to pay ransom
Experts advised victims not to pay any ransom. Rafael Sanchez, a breach response manager at Beazley, said that hackers only invested a significantly small amount to carry out a worldwide attack on computers. He added that if ransoms were paid, it would only lead to more attacks.
In addition, if businesses did pay the ransom, there will be no guarantees that the hackers will free their machines.
Although there were some reports that the ones who paid did regain access to their machines.
The hackers only listed three accounts as payment destinations, making it difficult for them to determine who already paid the ransom and which computers are free.
Is there a solution for WannaCry?
According to cybersecurity experts, there might be a way to fix affected computers without having to pay any ransom.
It only depends on how long the machines are infected by the virus and would take a high level of technical expertise to fix the problem.
Do you think the victims should pay the hackers the ransom or not? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section down below and don’t forget to like and share this article.
