IDG Contributor Network: Self-propagating ransomware: What the WannaCry ransomworm means for you

The reports came swiftly on Friday morning, May 12—the first I saw were that dozens of hospitals in England were affected by ransomware, denying physicians access to patient medical records and causing surgery and other treatments to be delayed. Said the BBC:

The malware spread quickly on Friday, with medical staff in the UK reportedly seeing computers go down “one by one”.

NHS staff shared screenshots of the WannaCry programme, which demanded a payment of $ 300 (£230) in virtual currency Bitcoin to unlock the files for each computer.

Throughout the day other, mainly European countries, reported infections.

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