The effect of the WannaCrypt Ransomware was felt throughout Britain, India, USA, the United Kingdom, and Russia. In fact, no place on earth was safe from the menacing virus that crippled computers in 99 countries in just a few hours. The virus disabled hospitals and other organizations computers.
The parasitic virus scrambles data on infected computers and then demands payment in Bitcoin to restore the company's files. The WannaCrypt Ransonware unleashed fury affected 75,000 computers and the wily hackers expected a payday of billions in a single day.
But that did not happen. Although hackers expected the largest payday in history, it turned out to be a huge bust.
According to Brian Krebs, an analyst and security researcher, the hackers responsible for the WannaCrypt Ransonware only managed to take in approximately $26,000.
A mere $300 payment should have yielded billions
Hackers set the price at only $300, which was a reasonable fee for companies to unlock important data. And considering the low price, numerous victims were expected to open their wallets and pay out the demanded ransom. Details are now emerging, on Saturday, a couple of software security companies revealed that the most affected countries were Russia, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, and Taiwan.
Reportedly, the powerful attack on Britain crippled its entire hospital network. Medical staff canceled all appointments because they were unable to access patients' files.
Cyber attack now under control
Several businesses, as well as government agencies, had to shut down their operations because of the ensuing chaos. Some victims include FedEx in the United States, the Spanish telecommunications company, Telefonica, and Renault in France.
However, it seems the attack on the United Kingdom's National Health Service was the most severe.
Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May said the UK government was aware of the cyber attack. She also confirmed that the country's National Health Service (NHS) was affected severely. However, the UK's National Cyber Security Center worked around the clock to restore the NHS computers.
WannaCrypt, aka WanaCry or WCry, was identified first in February this year. Only Microsoft moved to protect its computer network. The company installed a security patch for its Windows machines.
Reportedly, the crippling WanaCry virus is now under control and companies have already updated their networks with virus detection and protection software. According to several security analyst, these protocols will disable spyware attacks, thus preventing vulnerabilities in computer systems.