RANSOMEWARE HIT COMPUTER SYSTEMS

[Niel Harper]

Hello Wisdom,

I want to play the devil's advocate here for a minute.

Ransomware has been a major problem since the mid-2000s. There was an over
150% increase in new ransomware variants in the first half of 2016 alone.
Moreover, cybercriminals are now operating Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS)
with lower buy-in costs that allow less tech-savvy perpetrators to
distribute ransomware. News reports would seem to suggest that yesterday's
attack was outside the norm, when it really wasn't.

While providing information on this particular attack is all well and good,
shouldn't we be talking about why governments should not be building up
their cyber attack capabilities, and why things like stockpiling zero day
vulnerabilities is a really bad idea and compromises the security of the
Internet (also eroding online trust)?

Additionally, shouldn't the discourse include guidelines about protecting
individuals and organizations from malware attack (again not criticizing
the efficacy and importance of incident response)?

Sadly enough, hospitals are usually low hanging fruit for ransomware
attacks. Their data sets are critical to patient care and management, and
they usually don’t have the IT resources to support critical process areas
like vulnerability management, patch management, business continuity
management, etc. They also generally don’t have robust backup solutions
and/or real-time replication to disaster recovery sites which increases the
overall availability of mission critical data for recovery. And from a risk
management perspective, they don’t possess the depth of human resources to
employ a ‘three lines of defense’ approach to managing organizational risk.
A robust data backup and recovery solution usually goes a long way in
protect oneself from ransomware attacks. My preferred approach for
organizations is usually a disk-to-disk-to-tape backup solution combined
with offsite replication if possible. The backup tapes are encrypted and
stored off site. For individuals, backing up critical data is also very
important. But end users need to also regularly update their endpoint
security, be wary of phishing and other suspicious emails, and also be
mindful the rootkits can be downloaded from legitimate websites that have
been compromised.

Regards,

Niel

On Sat, May 13, 2017 at 6:10 AM, Wisdom Donkor <wisdom.dk at gmail.com> wrote:

> Dear Colleagues,
>
> Thought of sharing this information.
>
> Yesterday, May 12, at about 5:00 pm GMT, a massive ransomware hit
> computer systems of hundreds of private companies and public organizations
> across the world which is believed to have the highest infection rate of
> all time.
> The Ransomware in question has been identified as a variant of
> ransomware known as WannaCry (also known as 'Wana Decrypt0r,' 'WannaCryptor'
> or 'WCRY').
>
> Like other dangerous ransomware variants, WannaCry also blocks access to
> a computer or its files and demands money to unlock it.
>
> Once infected with the WannaCry ransomware, victims are asked to pay up
> to $300 in order to remove the infection from their PCs; otherwise,
> their PCs render unusable, and their files remain locked.
>
> WannaCry attackers use a Windows exploit detected and tested by the NSA
> called EternalBlue, which was stolen and released by the Shadow Brokers
> hacking group over a month ago.
>
> Microsoft released a patch for the vulnerability in March (MS17-010),
> but many users and organizations who did not patch their systems are open
> to attacks.
>
> The exploit has the capability to penetrate into machines running unpatched
> version of Windows by exploiting flaws in Microsoft Windows SMB Server.
> This is why the WannaCry ransomware is spreading at an astonishing pace.
> Once a single computer in your organization is hit by the WannaCry
> ransomware, the worm looks for other vulnerable computers and infects
> them as well.
>
> In just a few hours, the ransomware targeted over 45,000 computers in 74
> countries, including United States, Russia, Germany, Turkey, Italy, Philippines
> and Vietnam, and that the number was still growing.
>
> A screenshot of detailing nations attacked are attached in this email.
>
> The ransomeware's actual mode by which it initiates and spreads itself on
> networks has not been discovered but like other ransomware variant, malicious
> links and emails are most likely the culprit.
>
> CERT-GH recommends users and system admins:
>
> 1. Take all windows OS systems off the internet and off the network.
> 2. Create a backup of all files needed.
> 3. Store backup in an airgapped location.
> 4. Download windows update(KB4019472) in a sandbox environment.
> 5. Install the update without connecting to a network/internet.
> 6. After the update, the system can be connected to the internet.
>
> Kind Regards
>
>
> CERT-GHANA
>
>
> --
> *WISDOM DONKOR (S/N Eng.)*
> E-government and Open Government Data Platforms Specialist
> ICANN Fellow / Member, UN IGF MAG Member, ISOC Member,
> Freedom Online Coalition (FOC) Member, Diplo Foundation Member,
> OGP Open Data WG Member, GODAN Memember, ITAG Member
> Email: wisdom.dk at gmail.com
> Skype: wisdom_dk
> facebook: facebook at wisdom_dk
> Website: www.data.gov.gh
> www.isoc.gh / www.itag.org.gh
>
>


-- 
*Niel Harper*
Barbados: +(246) 424 3809
London: +44 207 193 9826
Mobile: +(246) 243 3818
Email: niel.harper at ieee.org
Website: http://nielharper.com
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