US News

Massive cyberattack spreads around the globe

A massive cyberattack leaked by malware developed by the US National Security Agency swept across the globe Friday after computer networks were locked by a program that demands $300 in Bitcoin.

As many as 74 countries were hit by the sweeping cyberattack, including the US, UK, China, Russia, Spain, Italy and Taiwan.

Several experts linked the breaches to vulnerabilities released by a group known as The Shadow Brokers, which recently claimed to have dumped hacking tools stolen from the NSA, the BBC reported.

The UK’s National Health Service also was hit by a ransomware outbreak Friday and screenshots of the program were shared by NHS staff.

According to security experts, the malware exploited a vulnerability that was discovered and developed by the NSA.

Alan Woodward, a security expert from the University of Surrey, told The Guardian newspaper that the attackers appear to have exploited a chink in the armor of Microsoft XP that was exposed in a recent leak of CIA hacking tools.

Microsoft released a patch for the vulnerability last March, but hackers took advantage of the fact that vulnerable targets — particularly hospitals — had not yet updated their systems, the New York Times reported.

The malware was spread by email, which included encrypted, compressed files that allowed the ransomware to infiltrate the targets, the paper reported.

The attack unleashed chaos in at least 15 organizations in the UK, including hospitals that were forced to cancel surgeries as medical staff resorted to pen and paper to work, Business Insider reported.

“We are aware that a number of NHS organizations have reported that they have suffered from a ransomware attack. This is not targeted at the NHS, it’s an international attack and a number of countries and organizations have been affected,” British Prime Minister Theresa May said, Agence France-Presse reported.

She said there was no evidence that patient data had been compromised.

One cyber-security researcher tweeted that he had detected many thousands of cases of the ransomware — known as “WannaCry” and variants of that name — around the world.

“This is huge,” said Jakub Kroustek at Avast.

Images shared on social media showed screens of NHS computers with images demanding payment of $300 worth of the online currency Bitcoin, saying: “Ooops, your files have been encrypted!”

“Maybe you are looking for a way to recover your files, but do not waste your time,” the messages said, according to AFP.

The payment is demanded within three days or the price is doubled. If none is received in seven days, all of the files will be deleted, the screen message claims.

A spokesman for Barts Health NHS Trust in London said it was experiencing “major IT disruption” and delays at all four of its hospitals.

“We have activated our major incident plan to make sure we can maintain the safety and welfare of patients,” the spokesman said.

“Ambulances are being diverted to neighboring hospitals.”

Two employees at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital told AFP that all the computers in the hospital had been turned off.

“We have been told that we need to shut down all the computers and even our Wi-Fi on our phones. No computers are currently working,” they said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Caroline Brennan, 41, went to the hospital to see her brother, who had open heart surgery.

“They told us there was a problem. They said the system was down and that they cannot transfer anyone till the computer system was back up so he is still in the theater,” she said.

“They told us to come back in 30 to 40 minutes. They said they started the system again.”

With Post wires