Laurence Dollimore
A RANSOMWARE virus is said to be rapidly spreading across the globe, affecting at least 57,000 computers.
Spain’s telecommunications giant Telefonica and the UK’s National Health Service are among those affected.
The virus infects computer files and blocks them until moneys are paid.
More than 74 countries are reported to be affected, with that number expected to grow.
The UK and Spain are among the first nations to officially recognise the attack.
Brit PM Theresa May has said the attack on UK hospitals is part of a wider international attack.
The virus blocks files from being accessed before dropping a ransom note to users, demanding that $300 be paid in bitcoins to unlock them, within a certain time frame.
As more time passes, the price demanded increases.
If the money is not paid, the virus promises to delete the files.
The NHS is said to be in chaos as IT systems have broken down while emergency patients are being diverted to other areas.
Scheduled appointments had to be cancelled, ambulances were diverted while some departments shut down completely.
All of this coverage and not one publication has explained how the ransomware has spread, if it spread at all. It seems unlikely that the hundreds of thousands of people affected have all opened a virus-laden attachment or clicked on a dodgey link in an email at the same time. So what has really happened here? Microsoft said that they patched this bug two months ago, however a more recent bug that was patched in a single day is much more likely to be the cuprit here, as this particular malware activates when the antivirus scans it. All that virus laden email sitting in inboxes around the world would therefore be kicked in to action.
Telefonica deserves it. I once paid 10 cents too much. So they cut me off for 3 months. Because my balance was not zero(!!!!!). And then. Hey, I speak Spanish, good enough that even my Spanish mother in law understands me…
Went to Telefoncia stores. To hear they do not do adminstration. Could call 1004, but only to get a tape message that my balanace was zero. Finally got another prepaid number, so finally could get an operator on the phone. She had to consult a colleague. Who said that happens more. Nothing else. No way to even get them to politely shove that 10 cents paid to much, or give it to charity. No way to get my phone working again. Cordially they understood I just needed my phone to work for my business (!!!), but without saying so, cordially, they indicated it was my own stupid mistake to pay them, too much. So logically they had to do nothing.
I went to PhoneHouse, bought me a new Samsung, no more contracts and another companies SIM card.
Then I got stalked by the Phonehouse with special offers, because they had my number. Luckily they went out of business lately. And Telefonica started stalking me because I did not properly cancel my contract with them. In a land where we have privacy rules!
Telefonica is a monkey company. Most managers are dumped Spanish politicians. No clue about IT. Like a company that sells icecream but cannot even properly pronounce icecream. Nor count the syllables of the word.
NHS is a different story. Ransomwaring the NHS, or any Spanish hospital is like an act of war. Trace the bastards and nuke them.