NHS cyber attack: How much has been paid to ransomware hackers REVEALED
THOUSANDS of people have been hit by the worldwide cyber attack which has crippled Britain’s NHS hospitals – and now it has been revealed many are still paying ransom money to the hackers to “unlock” their computers.
By Nicholas Bieber
DailyStar.com
15th May 2017
The malicious software infected computers across the globe last Friday, locking up more than 200,000 computers at banks, hospitals and carmakers in more than 150 countries.
It displayed terrifying red dialogue boxes on computer screens across NHS hospitals, stating it had encrypted computer files and warned all the information would be deleted unless payment was made.
The “Wanna Decryptor” instructed people to pay up to £460 to one of three bitcoin addresses in order to retain their files, and displayed a countdown clock giving a deadline to make payments by.
Fearing the worst, dozens of panic stricken people have been typing in their bank account details and leaving huge sums of payment in their despite bids to retain all their files.
And Daily Star Online has discovered a Twitter “bot” – which sends out automatic messages – that posts an update every time a payment is made to one of the three bitcoin addresses.
As of 1pm, the @actual_ransom account stated 181 people had paid out money to the “Wanna Decryptor” strain of ransomwear, taking the total to a staggering £39,000.
The account is run by Keith Collins, who is a US-based technology reporter, who tweeted that the account “will tweet every time it sees a new payment”.
This comes after we revealed the hero man of the moment from Britain who stopped the cyber attack from spreading – by mistake.
It also comes amid fears a second attack will take place today.
But Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said this afternoon that the dreaded second wave has not taken place.
Will Bellows, director of IT solutions firm Netserve, said those worried about being hit by ransomware should follow a three-step protection plan, including keeping anti-virus software up-to-date, installing cloud-based anti-spam, and creating a back up solution.
The Rest…HERE
