On the 12th of May 2017, the WannaCry ransomware strain infiltrated hundreds of thousands of computers from 150 countries around the world. As is the nature of ransomware, the WannaCry strain prevents access to a computer system or important data until a ransom is paid. Organisations affected include FedEx, the NHS of the UK, and closer to home – Telkom. While many of the world’s leading anti-virus programmes partially protected their users, one anti-virus utilised next-generation detection technologies to completely block the WannaCry ransomware attack – and Stratus IT is proud to have chosen this anti-virus for the protection of our clients’ important information. Have a look at where this ransomware came from, what Stratus IT did to stop it, and how you can protect yourself from future ransomware attacks…
The WannaCry Ransomware Attack Explained
WannaCry – also known as WCrypt, WCRY, WannaCrypt and WanaCrypt0r – is believed to be based on classified information and cyber tools stolen from the US National Security Agency. As of 14 May 2017, two days after the initial outbreak, one of the larger anti-virus organisations had identified over 75,000 cases of the WannaCry infiltration in 99 countries. It is able to affect all versions of Windows older than Windows 10, unless the operating system has been patched with the MS-17-010 update. The manufacturers of WannaCry ask for between $300 and $600 in Bitcoin, and shared that there is code in the malicious cyber worm’s digital makeup that could actually permanently delete data should the ransom not be paid.
Craig Rosewarne, MD of Wolfpack Information Risk in South Africa, shared that the local impact of WannaCry has been confined to a few small to medium corporates. However, he fears that this ransomware outbreak could spread to critical infrastructure such as the mining, traffic control, banking and medical industries. While WannaCry might already be old news, the ransomware is still spreading and could take months to fully eradicate.
How Stratus IT Prevented Clients Data Loss
As soon Stratus IT heard about the WannaCry ransomware outbreak, our IT professionals sprang into action to protect our managed service solutions clients from potential ransomware breaches.
- Our first step was to immediately push the MS-17-010 patch to all our managed devices that weren’t running the latest version of the Windows operating system.
- The next step was to ensure that our chosen anti-virus programme, Bitdefender, was updated on all systems and that our clients were aware of the ransomware.
- The third step was to consult with our managed clients, ensuring that sufficient data protection and managed backups were in place.
- We remained available to our clients looking for information regarding the WannaCry outbreak, and what Stratus IT was doing to protect their vital data.
Managed IT Service Solutions in Durban
When looking at this report on anti-virus protection efficacy in real-world testing, one can see that Bitdefender is among only a few anti-virus programmes that offers users complete protection from all forms of cyberattacks. Our managed service solutions ensure that important information is kept safe – and that access to vital data is never compromised. Prevent future ransomware incidents with managed service solutions from Stratus IT! For more information on these services and more, click here.
