WannaCry ransomware is making waves across the globe. It affected Indian systems as well but to a lesser extent. Recently, our Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad exclaimed that Monday’s attack did not affect the country substantially and he fetched a report on the scenario. Before getting an insight into the whole report, let us understand about this worm and its causes as well as consequences.
What is WannaCry Ransomware?
On 12th May 2017, the world witnessed the outbreak of a malicious cyber-attack by a virus christened as WannaCry. It spread across the networks via phishing emails employing ExternalBlue exploit and DoublePulsar backdoor that was developed by U.S. National Security Agency (NSA). It affected 150 countries and 230,000 computers considerably including many major departments. The malicious software targets Microsoft Windows operating system, locks it and demands ransom payments in the form of Bitcoins for unlocking. The departments that were affected exorbitantly include the National Health Service of Britain, Telefònica of Spain, FedEx, ATAM Airline, Deutche, Nissan, Renault, Hitachi and Bahn.
How it affected India?
It did not affect India massively but there were reports of minor incidents. As per the Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, it had minimal effect on the country with few isolated incidents that took place in Kerala, Bengal, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.
- As per his reports, the computers at Waynand panchayat in Kerala were affected by the worm. The computers were using pirated version of Microsoft windows and hence got prone to this worm. However, cyber department intervened into the matter, isolated the systems and shut them down. “No sensitive information was lost from the systems”, remarked a police officer in-charge of Kerala’s cyber security.
- In Bengal also, the systems in four blocks namely Datan, Narayangarh, Keshiyari and Belda were affected by the worm but this did not cause any major harm.
- Around 120 computers of Gujarat’s IT department were hit by the virus however, the cyber security team tackled the issue.
- 100 systems of Andhra Pradesh police department were affected in the weekend. However, the affect slowed down by night.
Measures taken by Indian Government against the virus
The Union Minister of the country told that the Indian government has been constantly updating its security system since march. The government would also be training the masses to safeguard their systems manually. He even said, “ We are going to set up cyber coordination centre by June”. India boasts of its cyber security and is standing tall against this or any other malicious software.
Government recently telecasted a 67 minutes video in its Mygov portal whereby tips and tricks to safeguard the devices (computer, laptop, tablet and smartphone) were shared with the populace. It is also enhancing its internal cyber security and if reports are to be believed then India won’t be dented by any ransomware. WannaCry was not much successful in affecting India and hopefully in the near future also it won’t be successful in making India cry.