Locally made app targets WannaCry
A local IT company has created a free program to help Windows users figure out if they’re protected from a ransomware virus that’s spreading quickly.
Let’s Get Digital is offering a downloadable utility that tells citizens if a Windows computer is vulnerable to the malware.
Also known as WannaCry, Ransomware has been infecting Windows computers around the world since Friday, in some cases affecting hospitals, universities and government as well as businesses and individual owners..
David Wilson is the owner of Let’s Get Digital. It’s an IT company based out of Northcrest Plaza.
Wilson said WannaCry has attacked more than 200,000 systems, including the hospital in Oshawa.
“It encrypts everything on their computer and sort of holds them for ransom – they either have to pay the money or lose the files,” Wilson said.
Because a lot of people don’t update their computers regularly, Wilson said, the virus was easily able to infect thousands of computers quickly.
So his company created a program that lets users know if they’ve installed Microsoft’s latest security patch for Windows that was released in March.
By downloading Let’s Get Digital’s program online, Windows users can avoid the frustration of using a convoluted interface to see if they’re protected.
Users will be able to clearly see in green or red letters whether or not they have what’s needed.
“It tells you flat-out whether you have the latest update,” said Wilson.
And, Microsoft’s latest security patch is also available through the program for computers using Windows XP to Windows 10.
Wilson said offering this free program to residents was the right thing to do and a way to give back to the community.
“It shouldn’t be hard for people to know whether or not their computers are protected so this is an easy way for them to find out.”
NOTE: The program can be downloaded on Let’s Get Digital’s website on the WannaCry page at www.letsgetdigital.ca/wannacry