Malware: Ransomware Attack Roils The Globe

“You know how people always talk about the Big One?” asked Lily Hay Newman on Wired.com.

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“You know how people always talk about the Big One?” asked Lily Hay Newman on Wired.com. Well, “this looks a whole lot like it.” Last Friday, a global cyberattack began freezing more than 300,000 computers in some 150 countries, wreaking havoc on businesses, governments, and universities. Hospitals in Britain were forced to cancel surgeries and divert ambulances; companies like FedEx, Renault, and Spanish Telecom Telefonica had to suspend some operations; and in China, more than 20,000 gas stations owned by the state-run oil company had their payment systems taken offline. The culprit was a strain of malicious software known as ransomware; spread by email, it locks users out of their computers and threatens to destroy their data unless a ransom is paid. In this case, a virus dubbed “WannaCry” exploited a bug in outdated versions of Microsoft Windows and demanded $30