{"id":319002,"date":"2017-05-14T06:18:12","date_gmt":"2017-05-14T06:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=319002"},"modified":"2017-05-14T06:18:12","modified_gmt":"2017-05-14T06:18:12","slug":"cyber-attack-europol-says-it-was-unprecedented-in-scale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/05\/cyber-attack-europol-says-it-was-unprecedented-in-scale\/","title":{"rendered":"Cyber-attack: Europol says it was unprecedented in scale"},"content":{"rendered":"
A cyber-attack that hit organisations worldwide including the UK’s National Health Service was “unprecedented”, Europe’s police agency says.<\/p>\n
Europol also warned a “complex international investigation” was required “to identify the culprits”.<\/p>\n
Ransomware encrypted data on at least 75,000 computers in 99 countries on Friday. Payments were demanded for access to be restored.<\/p>\n
European countries, including Russia, were among the worst hit.<\/p>\n
Although the spread of the malware – known as WannaCry and variants of that name – appears to have slowed, the threat is not yet over.<\/p>\n
Europol said its cyber-crime team, EC3, was working closely with affected countries to “mitigate the threat and assist victims”.<\/p>\n
In the UK, a total of 48 National Health trusts were hit by Friday’s cyber-attack, of which all but six are now back to normal, according to the Home Secretary Amber Rudd.<\/p>\n
The attack left hospitals and doctors unable to access patient data, and led to the cancellation of operations and medical appointments.<\/p>\n