WannaCry virus invades Botswana
Pini Bothoko | Tuesday May 16, 2017 09:23
The Ministry of Transport and Communications informed the general public through a press release about the virus, which began spreading widely across the world on May 12, 2017.
It is reported that so far 200,000 victims in 150 countries across the world have been affected by the WannaCry virus. The Ministry’s press release reads, “the ministry on behalf of the Government, is taking the necessary precautionary steps to secure all systems whose integrity can be adversely affected.
These steps will mean that certain services, which are offered to the public through Government offices, will not be available for the whole of today (Monday May 15, 2017). These include but are not limited to immigration and passport control services, court records management system, etc.
“Accordingly, the Ministry wishes to warn the general public and the business community to take the necessary steps to ensure that apart from re-organising their trips and diaries, their computer networks are secure,” the statement reads.
It states that some steps that could be considered include, having the latest software updates, maintaining up to date offline backup of their data, keeping their security software up to date and being wary of unexpected emails especially if they contain links or attachments.
The Ministry also warned people not to open the links nor the attachments.
The Ministry further advises that if computers are already affected and the hackers’ request for a ransom, no payment is to be made.
Instead one should immediately disconnect the affected computer from the network and contact the relevant IT offices or specialist in their respective organisations. It reads, “The police can also be contacted to report any suspicions or to provide any other assistance regarding unsolicited email”.
The Ministry promised to provide more updates but the business community and the general public is encouraged to look out and protect its IT infrastructure.
According To NBC News, Europol director Rob Wainwright, the global reach of the attack was “unprecedented” and “pretty indiscriminate,” affecting everything from hospitals and schools to auto giants.
“We’ve never seen anything like this,” he told Britain’s ITV, adding that the FBI was assisting in trying to identify the culprits.
“At the moment we are in the face of an escalating threat and the numbers are going up. I’m worried about how the numbers will continue to grow when people go to work and turn their machines on Monday (meaning yesterday) morning.”
The researcher, who identifies himself online as MalwareTech, noticed that the malicious software that caused Friday afternoon’s attack consistently pinged an unregistered web domain. So he bought the website’s URL and made it live, he said.
That act essentially flipped a kill switch — halting the attack as it rippled worldwide, according to Malware Tech and the British Government. By then, however, dozens of countries and some of their hospitals, companies and Government offices were already infected.