Cyberattacks on global scale ‘have just begun’
AROUND 230 000 computers in 150 different countries. That’s t he sta ggering number of computers around the world that were brought crashing down by malicious software WannaCry this month.
And cybersecurity experts predict the global cyberattack has just begun on computer systems – South Africa won’t be spared.
Carey van Vlaanderen, the chief executive of ESET South Africa, a cybersecurity company, is urging South Africans to be on high alert for the ransom-ware, which targets computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system by encrypting data and demanding ransom payments.
“As South Africa is deemed t o have t he most moder n i nter net and i nfor mation t e chnol o g y e c o s ys t e m in Africa, many of the computer systems would be vulnerable to the WannaCry attack,” he says.
“The fallout has been huge globally, and this wave will continue to spread in South Africa because these attacks do not target a specific country or industry.”
While companies face the biggest risk, Van Vlaanderen war ns, “I f you’ re hit and haven’t backed up your data, even if you’re a housewife with only f amily photos on your computer, you could lose everything.”
There are multiple ways ransom-ware like WannaCry can be installed on a computer, he says.
“Often unsuspecting users will inadvertently install the malicious software on their computer either by clicking on a link in a phishing e-mail or by accessing insecure websites.
“T h e WannaCry ransom- ware is a wor m, so if it’s introduced into a network by an unsuspecting user, it seeks out other unpatched and insecure systems on the network and spreads t hat way.”
The worm created havoc in the UK last month, collapsing the National Health Service, p a r a l y s i ng c o mputers at state- run medical f acilities across the UK.
Operations were cancelled, ambulances diver t e d and documents such as patient records were made unavailable in England and Scotland. The malicious software hit French car manufacturer Renault, US delivery service FedEx, Russia’s interior ministry and several Spanish telecoms and gas companies.
However, while the spread has slowed down in the past two weeks, the respite might be brief, say local cyber-security experts.
Van Vlaanderen points out there have been reports of a few systems that have already been affected in South Africa, including shipping company FedEx’s local operation.
Tech expert Arthur Goldstuck, too, believes that WannaCry is an ongoing threat in South Africa.
“Numerous i ndivi duals – particularly older users – have fallen for scammers supposedly phoning from Microsoft to say they’ve detected a virus on the user’s computer.
“For s ome reason, t he most suspicious of old-timers become like gullible children when receiving a call about their computers from a stranger.
I t does not cross t heir minds for a moment that the giant Microsoft is not about to phone an individual user about an issue on their sys- tem.
“They’re then persuaded to open a specific web address, download a piece of software and open it, which instantly locks down their computer, and encrypts all files.
“They’re told that, if they don’t pay a specific ransom amount by a given date, all the contents of their computer will be deleted.”
Manuel Cor re gedor, t he operations manager at Wolfpack Infor mation Risk, says on average WannaCry hackers ask for between R3 960 and R6 600 as ransom in Bitcoins to regain access to their files or computers.
“Users and c ompanies alike should definitely be aware of WannaCry, especially if they’ve not installed the latest patches ( updates) for Windows.
In particular users/ companies using unpatched versions of Windows 7 (or earlier) and Windows Server 2008 (or earlier).”
Professor Jo h a n Va n Niekerk, a l ecturer i n t he department of infor mation and t echnolo g y at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, believes cyberattacks l i ke WannaCry will only worsen.
“Now that hackers have access to a l ot of stolen cyber- warfare code, I think we’re going to see a lot bigger and nastier attacks of this nature,” Van Niekerk adds.