Over night, another ransomware started it’s spread first reports emerged from Russia, quickly followed by Romania, the Netherlands, Norway, France, Spain and Britain. Hours later it was reported the attack his the USA and India as well. Cyber security expert Sergio Caltagirone warned on Twitter, “Someone tell Asia and Australia to go back to bed and not check email this morning.”
Some reports say that the attack which is being called "Petrwrap" is a variant of an existing ransomware family called Petya but other reports suggest it could be an entirely new ransomware not before seen and they are dubbing it "NotPetya". As workers across the USA, Asia and Australia turn on machines it is expected the attack will spread and hit our shores.
The ransomware is demanding those affected to pay a ransom of $US300 of Bitcoin to restore access to files. Part of the message on infected machines reads, “"If you see this text, then your files are no longer accessible, because they have been encrypted. Perhaps you are busy looking for a way to recover your files, but don't waste your time. Nobody can recover your files without our decryption service.”
As with our previous advice when WannaCry hit we recommend you:
- Educate your staff not to click on any links from an unknown source
- Patch, ensure all systems and software are updated with all current patches to stop the spread of infection.
- Install or update your anti-virus software, firewalls, email and web filters.
- Should you be infected, do not pay the ransom. Call us on 1300 865 865.
The WannaCry attack largely hit old versions of windows, with 98% of those infected running Windows 7. One of the best ways to protect against attacks using windows vulnerabilities is to update to Windows 10.
Several multinational companies have been affected in this latest outbreak including US pharmaceutical giant Merck, Russian state oil giant Rosneft, British advertising giant WPP and the French industrial group Saint-Gobain.
Any organisation that heeded strongly worded warnings in recent months from Microsoft to urgently install a security patch and take other steps appeared to be protected against the latest attacks. Larger organisations and enterprise should protect themselves with ASD 4 as a Service, which mitigates up to 85% of all cyber intrusions.
Call us on 1300 865 865 to upgrade to Windows 10 or for further information on our Security services.
