Petya ransomware: Kolkata Police’s cyber cops issue advisory

KOLKATA: With Petya Ransomware attack happening in different parts of the globe including India’s financial capital Mumbai, the Kolkata Police are creating awareness among people to avoid such incidents in the city.

The cyber police station of the Kolkata Police have issued an advisory to avoid Petya Ransomware threats.

It may be recalled that Petya Ransomware attack, which is quite similar to that of Wannacry, took place near Mumbai on Tuesday where computer systems of port operators got disabled following the attack.

After explaining what is ransomware in the advisory, the police have also mentioned how this Petya ransomware affects a computer system. It has been stated in the advisory that “a new strain of malicious code dubbed Petya (and sometimes referred to as Petwrap) was first spotted encrypting computers in Ukraine and the systems in Spain, Germany, Israel, UK, Netherlands, US and India.”

In a bid to avoid falling to the malicious software that comes through the Internet, mainly the e-mails, attachments and URLS, the police have urged people to ensure that all computers and servers have the latest patches. At the same time one has to ensure anti-virus signatures are updated in all computer systems.

The users have also been directed not to open any attachment in unsolicited e-mails even if they come from people in an user’s contact list. It has also been advised not to click on the pop up on web browsers. Moreover, one must also avoid using “crack operating systems and softwares”.