How to protect your computer from WannaCry-type malware
Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2025 10:28 am
What is WannaCry?
WannaCry was the worst type of malware (a type of malicious code) that exists. It's called ransomware .
Ransomware prevents you from accessing your computer and therefore all your data. Most often, the hacker then blackmails you . If you don't pay, you'll never be able to access your computer again. And, as the name suggests, the owners are left with nothing but tears to cry or to pay.
Advanced ransomware can attack not only a computer, but also a NAS or cloud storage. Do you think hackers only target wealthy corporations or states? You're wrong. They can easily attack a hospital, which then cannot treat patients whose records are on its computers, or private computers. That's exactly what the WannaCry ransomware did. It completely disabled the computer system of the British National Health Service .
WannaCry spread rapidly. Within 24 hours, it attacked over 100,000 employment database computers , according to Avast data alone. The infected computers were located mainly in Europe and the USA. The virus also attacked the Czech Republic.
Malware spread map
Source: malwaretech.com
How does ransomware spread?
WannaCry spread primarily via email . The users themselves were at fault, as they downloaded the virus within a zipped folder, and as soon as the user opened the ZIP, the virus was installed.
The price for the rescue was 300 USD , but in Bitcoin. Which meant a major complication for some users. After three days, the price doubled. After a week, the data was allegedly irretrievably lost. The WannaCry attack was carefully prepared, for example, the hackers have payment information available in 30 languages.
Photo source
Why did ransomware spread so quickly?
This malware exploited a security flaw in Windows . Of course, Windows closely monitors all security flaws that hackers discover and immediately releases security patches. You download them as part of the updates.
However, Windows does not patch all its operating systems indefinitely. After a few years, it stops issuing security updates for a given version. Why? Because it has released several versions of a better operating program in the meantime, because the bug can no longer be fixed, because the program is outdated, and so on.
WannaCry was the worst type of malware (a type of malicious code) that exists. It's called ransomware .
Ransomware prevents you from accessing your computer and therefore all your data. Most often, the hacker then blackmails you . If you don't pay, you'll never be able to access your computer again. And, as the name suggests, the owners are left with nothing but tears to cry or to pay.
Advanced ransomware can attack not only a computer, but also a NAS or cloud storage. Do you think hackers only target wealthy corporations or states? You're wrong. They can easily attack a hospital, which then cannot treat patients whose records are on its computers, or private computers. That's exactly what the WannaCry ransomware did. It completely disabled the computer system of the British National Health Service .
WannaCry spread rapidly. Within 24 hours, it attacked over 100,000 employment database computers , according to Avast data alone. The infected computers were located mainly in Europe and the USA. The virus also attacked the Czech Republic.
Malware spread map
Source: malwaretech.com
How does ransomware spread?
WannaCry spread primarily via email . The users themselves were at fault, as they downloaded the virus within a zipped folder, and as soon as the user opened the ZIP, the virus was installed.
The price for the rescue was 300 USD , but in Bitcoin. Which meant a major complication for some users. After three days, the price doubled. After a week, the data was allegedly irretrievably lost. The WannaCry attack was carefully prepared, for example, the hackers have payment information available in 30 languages.
Photo source
Why did ransomware spread so quickly?
This malware exploited a security flaw in Windows . Of course, Windows closely monitors all security flaws that hackers discover and immediately releases security patches. You download them as part of the updates.
However, Windows does not patch all its operating systems indefinitely. After a few years, it stops issuing security updates for a given version. Why? Because it has released several versions of a better operating program in the meantime, because the bug can no longer be fixed, because the program is outdated, and so on.