Are You Affected With The Ransomware Virus?

Indians are getting messages through Whatsapp warning not to open any message that reads "Dance of the Hillary" that will attack their computer. Reports have it that many ATMs have been attacked by the Wannacry ransomware virus, and have been emptied.

You can read more about this here


https://in.news.yahoo.com/whatsapp-forward-makes-common-man-070304770.html

 

Good it did not affect you individually - same here.

 

Not here, not yet anyway.
I'm suspecting Radical Islam might have committed this offense.

 

I am sure they will soon find out. Some are pointing a finger at N.Korea. They should be booked, whoever they are.

 

No, all of my machines, both at home and at the lab/office, are properly updated, secured, and hardened against such things. This particular outbreak sure is a nasty little brute, but like all malware, with the proper countermeasures one can be secure.

 

There is a perpetual competition between virus and antivirus creators

 

Isn't that the truth. To quote the Genesis' song "Land of Confusion", there are "Too many people making too many problems ...". Fortunately, the technology we have now makes a robust defense a reality. But there will always be bad actors doing what they do.

 

Was not affected, heard that the virus has been halted for now?

 

You have rightly said it - 'halted for now' The anti virus people have to be alert all the time as I did read somewhere that this is just the beginning and I quite believe that. It is a pandora's box that has been opened which has no end. But as long as there is vigilance all is well.

 

To be honest, I was kind of panicky when the news on the Wcry ransomware was being reported on tv. It was surprising to me because no one in the office knew about it. Usually we would receive a memo from the IT department (I work in the IT) about a new virus or malware. But anyway, it feels scary because your computer will be locked and you cannot use it anymore unless you pay the ransom so you will receive the unlock key codes. Frankly, viruses and its ilk are troublesome, they ruin our peace in the internet. I wish that the design of the internet would be revised so that senders of anything, be it email or virus, can be clearly identified just like a caller ID of the phone. That way, evil schemers will think twice because they can be identified.

 

One should be alert about what one opens. Even if it seems from someone we know the language would not be the same. Then there are those sites that come out with attractive offers and those are the ones that contain the virus. I only open that which I am hundred percent sure. I have the Kaspersky anti virus that keeps me company as I am working on the pc.

 

If the world stopped posting incriminating stuff about ourselves on the Internet, there would be no need for viruses...

But that's how the world is today, isn't it? And we can't escape.

Ok, relating to a survival topic: what would happen if you were affected by the virus? How would you have 'survived'?

 

I haven't been affected by the virus. Actually, I read that the "Dance of the Hillary" thing was nothing but a hoax - maybe now there actually is a virus like that, but it's probably a result of the news spreading.
Of course there are other viruses like that, with other names... I try to always be careful when opening messages with links or files.

 

There is a restore option in our system that one can rely on. And ofcourse one is expected to take a backup of important documents any way Having said that why would anyone be affected by a virus if in the first place there is an effective antivirus downloaded?

 

Most effective antivirus programmes need an expensive subscription.

Agree that backing up is an important habit to have. *thumbs up*

 

I had no idea of this. This is surely a big issue. Has it been dealt with? We had no media coverage of this issue over here, or at least I have not seen any. Quite a scary thought that they have managed to empty ATMs

 

I've heard about the ransomeware virus when the news of the attack went online. I wonder how it ends up in the end. Someone with the updated news should chip us in. I heard they requested payment through bitcoin before they can release the files and computers they hijacked. How did it pan out?

 

Many had to pay to get back their data. I am told the story is not over. They are at it again through some other method. It is not a comfortable situation at all specially for those who are responsible for data that belongs to others such as banks.

 

I know there was a recent virus attack. I do not believe I was affected by it but it seems there are plenty of agenices that were. I saw on TV that hospitals are now doing drills how to continue to run their OR's in the event of a cyberattack since medicine like so much of everything else is run by computers. It is important to know how to do without them if need be.

 

Some companies we work with have been affected, but our company has not, and I have not personally. Our IT department tries to be proactive to prevent issues, so far so good.