WannaCry fear hits Mumbai ATMs, nation takes precaution

After infecting over two lakh computers and crippling life in 150 countries, the global ransomware attack continued for the third day on Monday, with more reports of hacking pouring in from India, China and Japan as offices re-opened after a tumultuous weekend.

India was not immune to the vicious assault — in Kerala, the computers of two village panchayats were hit, with messages demanding $300 in virtual currency to unlock the files. And in West Bengal's West Midnapore district, at least eight computers of the state-run electricity distributor were affected.

In Mumbai, there was a hint of fear as several ATMs ran out of cash and were not refilled as the RBI had asked all banks countrywide to upgrade anti-virus programmes.

Many ATMs that FPJ visited in different parts of the city were dispensing cash after carrying out the mandatory security checks. But there were some that were shut. Dupesh Jain, an interior designer by profession, said, “The bank has given us assurance that all important customer data and financial information has been secured.”

A senior official of the Central Bank of India said that they are yet to get any circular from the RBI for shutting down ATMs and all customer data is secure. “There is no threat to customer security,” he said.

Officials at the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) said it has activated a “preparedness and response mechanism” by instructing CERT-IN (Computer Emergency Response Team) to gather all the information of the reported ransomware. MeitY has initiated contact with relevant stakeholders in public and private sector to ‘patch’ their systems.