{"id":319086,"date":"2017-05-14T14:55:50","date_gmt":"2017-05-14T14:55:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=319086"},"modified":"2017-05-14T14:55:50","modified_gmt":"2017-05-14T14:55:50","slug":"ransomware-cyber-attack-threat-escalating-europol-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/05\/ransomware-cyber-attack-threat-escalating-europol-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Ransomware cyber-attack threat escalating – Europol"},"content":{"rendered":"
Friday’s cyber-attack has affected more than 200,000 victims in 150 countries, Europol chief Rob Wainwright says.<\/p>\n
He told the BBC the act was “unprecedented in its scale” and warned more people could find themselves affected on Monday morning.<\/p>\n
The virus took control of users’ files, demanding payments; Russia and the UK were among the worst-hit countries.<\/p>\n
Experts say another attack could be imminent and have warned people to ensure their security is up to date.<\/p>\n
Mr Wainwright said that the ransomware was being combined with a worm application allowing the “infection of one computer to quickly spread across the networks”.<\/p>\n
He added: “That’s why we’re seeing these numbers increasing all the time.”<\/p>\n
‘Patch before Monday’<\/strong><\/p>\n Although a temporary fix earlier slowed the infection rate, the attackers had now released a new version of the ransomware, he said.<\/p>\n Companies need to make sure they have updated their systems and “patched where they should” before staff arrived for work on Monday morning, the EU law enforcement agency head said.<\/p>\n In England, 48 National Health Service (NHS) trusts reported problems at hospitals, GP surgeries or pharmacies, and 13 NHS organisations in Scotland were also affected.<\/p>\n