More than 150 countries hit by massive cyber attack; Experts warn of increased possibility of new cyber attack

London : After the largest ever cyber attack that hit more than 150 countries, a new cyber attack larger than this is soon expected, warn analysts. The security agencies worldwide are still investigating the massive cyber attack that blocked more than 2 lakh computers of many multinationals including the renowned US company FedEx, along with the Russian Banks, government agencies of many countries, including British Health Service. But analysts have stated that even the number of computers that were hit by the cyber attack is not yet completely known.

On Friday night, the cyber attack was launched on several countries including Russia, Britain, Germany, China, Spain, Portugal and India. The reach of the cyber attack, which was done using the ‘Eternal Blue’ code developed by National Security Agency of the US, has increased considerably. It was said on Saturday that around 75 thousand computers of 99 nations have suffered a lot. But, by Sunday, the number of countries affected swelled up to 150 and the number of computers affected has reached 2 lakh.

The Director of ‘European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (EUROPOL)‘ Rob Wainwright expressed fear that the spread of the cyber attack is rather wider. When people will go at their workplaces and open up their computers, the number of computer affected with cyber attacks may increase, said Wainwright.

The ransomware cyber attack, named ‘Wanna Cry’, has demanded a ransom worth $300 dollars to restore access to the data on the computer. They threatened that if the ransom is not paid within three days and if the amount is not deposited within 7 days in the form of ‘Bitcoins’ crypto currency, then the data will be erased.

According to the claims made by the analysts of the BBC news channel, the attackers have so far received an amount of $28,458 dollars as ransom. The ‘National Crime Agency’ of Britain has stated that although they have not yet succeeded in tracking the attackers, they will try their level best to catch them.

However, another British cyber security expert – ‘MalwareTech’, has warned that another massive cyber attack is expected shortly. Wainwright the director of EUROPOL also fears the same. After the attack on Friday, efforts are being made to restore the lost data. However, MalwareTech has expressed fears that the next attack would be unstoppable. The attackers may launch the next attack using a more developed version of Ransomware ‘Wanna Cry’. Perhaps the attack will be carried out on Monday itself, warned MalwareTech.

At the same time, the computers with the software patch of Microsoft Windows installed, will be safe, claimed MalwareTech.

India is also facing the consequences of the attack. The extent of the damage was partially evident by Sunday. Some of the computers of the police department of Andhra Pradesh were also hit by the cyber attack. ATMs of a number of Indian banks operate on Windows System. It is being feared that these ATMs face a risk of attack, since 70 percent of the ATMs have not yet been updated.

All the departments of the Central as well as State government have been instructed that the ‘Indian Computer Emergency Response Teams’ (CERT-In) must take all the necessary precautions regarduing the cyber attack. The Defense Ministry, Share Market, Airports, Banks and other Government institutions have been given the instructions regarding what should be installed on the computers and what should not. Besides, they have also been asked to upload the security patch provided by Microsoft, on their computers. Microsoft has also provided updates for ‘Windows XP’, ‘Windows-8’ and ‘Windows Server 2003’.