The WannaCry Ransomware: Concept, Impact, and Response

This presentation provides an overview of the WannaCry Ransomware attack that occurred worldwide in May 2017. It covers the concept of the ransomware, impact on people and businesses, reasons for the attack, defensive response, and additional proposed security aspects. The presentation also includes figures and references to support the information presented.

WannaCry Ransomware
Cyber Crime

The WannaCry Ransomware
 According to The Washington Post, the WannaCry Ransomware
occurred worldwide in May, 2017
 The attack targeted those computers that were running on the
older versions of Microsoft Windows OS
 The ransomware attack had encrypted the host computer and
were demanding payments based on Bitcoin cryptocurrency
(2018)

The WannaCry Ransomware
Fig 1: The Message of WannaCry
Ransomware

Concept of WannaCry Ransomware
 The WannaCry is a form of malicious software. It hosts a
computer and thus asks for ransom amount of money
 The ransomware propagated by an exploit known as EternalBlue.
It was released by The Shadow Brokers, a hacking group
(Mohurle and Patil 2017)
 The WannaCry is a type of ransomware cryptoworm that
includes a network worm. It also comprises of a “transport”
mechanism

People Affected
 The Europol officials had reported that over 200,000 computers were been
hit by the malware
 The Chinese media also reported that over 40,000 businesses and
institutions were majorly hit. This had also included city services and gas
stations
 The healthcare providers in Britain were forced to cancel serious
treatments and had to turn the ambulances away

Economic Issues
 The service sector became the most affected business sector
 The small and medium-sized organizations were worse hit that had some
amount of immature IT infrastructures
 The insurance, finance, public administration and real estate (at 10%) were
figured to be high (Mattei 2017)
 The average demand of ransom had more than doubled. The open ledger
would allow anyone to trace payments made by the criminals during the attack

Reasons for the Massive Attack
 The businesses were worse hit as the machines were running outdated version
of Microsoft Windows OS
 This was mainly due to lack of funding for upgrading to the latest versions of OS
 According to the National Security Agency, they have identified that many
agencies were working on the pirated versions of Microsoft OS
 Different other organisations were using legacy software and had not upgraded
their systems as it was unnecessary for them

Defensive Response
 Security experts urged the affected users for not paying the demanded
amount
 Microsoft soon released updated security patches based on Windows 7
and upper OS versions
 Different researchers from Boston University and University College of
London had reported that PayBreak system would be able to defeat the
attacks from WannaCry

Devices Affected
 Due to an increase marketing share of Apple products, hence they would be
much vulnerable to the malware
 Android phones are susceptible to attacks as they mostly run on outdated
versions of systems
 Experts have suggested users for switching over to proprietary handsets .
These includes Pixel (Zimba, Simukonda and Chishimba 2017)
 These high proprietary handsets receive patch updates of software on a
frequent basis

Response to WannaCry
 Different private-public institutions have developed measures for defense
against ransomware attacks
 The Interpol have been able to offer support for the member countries with
the aid of Global Complex for Innovation. It was based within Singapore
 The Europol have suggested the users should need to update their system
software and should patch with the latest antivirus systems
 Microsoft systems have accessed the attack with the aid of Threat
Intelligence Centre for strengthening the capabilities

Additional Proposed Security Aspects
 As proposed by security experts, users should always create important
backups such as cloud storage or important files to hard drive
 Password manager should be used for creation and tracking of each
services
 Credit and medical reports should be evaluated based on fraudulent activity
 Unexpected emails should be dealt with caution based on phishing activities

References
(2018). Retrieved from
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/05/15/how-to-protect-
yourself-from-the-global-ransomware-attack/?
noredirect=on&utm_term=.b122772a0366
Mattei, T.A., 2017. Privacy, Confidentiality, and Security of Health Care Information:
Lessons from the Recent WannaCry Cyberattack. World neurosurgery, 104, pp.972-
974.
Mohurle, S. and Patil, M., 2017. A brief study of wannacry threat: Ransomware
attack 2017. International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science, 8(5).
Zimba, A., Simukonda, L. and Chishimba, M., 2017. Demystifying Ransomware
Attacks: Reverse Engineering and Dynamic Malware Analysis of WannaCry for
Network and Information Security. Zambia ICT Journal, 1(1), pp.35-40.

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