Many Computer cripples as Cyber attack hit the world

A massive cyberattack cripples computers around the world on Wednesday, paralysing operations at multinationals, banks and government departments.
The rapidly spreading virus, which hit Ukraine hardest on Tuesday, crippled computers running Microsoft Corp's Windows by encrypting hard drives and overwriting files, then demanded $300 in the digital currency bitcoin to restore access.
The malicious software appeared to be a variant of an existing ransomware family known as Petya, which also has borrowed key features from a major ransomware attack in May when a similar virus known as WannaCry or WannaCrypt spread to computers in more than 150 countries.

Gavin Millard, technical director at Tenable Network Security, a US-based cyber-security company specialising in spotting vulnerabilities in networks, told Al Jazeera, that the malware that is used by the attackers is believed to be worse than in previous instances, because users are not even able to launch their computers.
Instead, they see only a message informing them that their locked-up computer is infected and telling them how to transfer the ransom payment to remove the block.
"WannaCry was simple, but effective. With this one, it's a lot more complicated," he said.
"It's got multiple methods of spreading, leveraging quite a few known vulnerabilities," he added. "It is also locking systems, not just encrypting files."

Source : Jabalustar Blog and News Agencies