In the context of internet security, last year was primarily about the WannaCry ransomware strain. Before that, no one had ever heard about a cyber attack with such an outreach stretching all across the world. It worked out the way the Y2K bug was supposed to (but luckily couldn’t). In yesterday’s article, we talked about the current standing of WannaCry and how a cybersecurity Kill switch is deterring its activity.
It is, in fact, a commendable effort by digital security experts to come up with a software solution for a malware that has siphoned millions of dollars in the name of ransomware removal. However, some worrying prospects are also associated with the situation, and one should not overlook them.
We are Just an “Internet Outage” away from WannaCry Rebound
According to the developers of the WannaCry Kill Switch, the monitoring of related beacons suggest that dormant cryptovirological scripts are running on more than six hundred thousand different IPs across the globe (more than 190 countries).
Kill Switch works on a device when it is connected to the Internet. Moreover, the cryptovirological script repeatedly checks whether the Kill Switch is still active. This means a widespread, prolonged internet outage can once again set off the wrath of WannaCry. And yet again it will result in losses of millions of dollars when it comes to ransomware removal, data recovery, and digital infrastructure restoration measures.
Eastern Hemisphere is more Vulnerable
According to the statistics shared by the developers of WannaCry Kill Switch, the majority of users with dormant WannaCry script on their devices belong to China, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam. It is a matter of great concern that WannaCry is running in the background of hundreds and thousands of devices particularly in countries where ransomware removal services need a lot of improvement.
