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U.S. NEWS Tuesday 16 May 2017

Huge cyberattack ebbs as investigators work to find culprits

By ANICK JESDANUN learn more by examining switch,” but there were said Jan Op Gen Oorth, a pended electronic trans-
JILL LAWLESS ransom payments made fears that the cybercrimi- spokesman for Europol, the actions as a precaution. In
DANICA KIRKA by computer users via bit- nals would release even European police agency. Britain, many hospitals and
Associated Press coin, the hard-to-trace more malicious versions. Eiichi Moriya, a cyberse- clinics that are part of the
NEW YORK (AP) — The cy- digital currency often used Steve Grobman of the se- curity expert and professor country’s national health
berattack that took com- by criminals. curity company McAfee at Japan’s Meiji University, service were still having
puter files hostage around WannaCry paralyzed said forensics experts are warned that paying the computer problems. Pa-
the world appeared to computers running mostly looking at how the ran- ransom would not guaran- tients have had to be
slow on Monday as author- older versions of Micro- somware was written and tee a fix. turned away because their
ities worked to catch the records were inaccessible.
extortionists behind it — a In the U.S., where the ef-
difficult task that involves fects haven’t appeared
searching for digital clues to be widespread, investi-
and following the money. gators believe additional
Thousands more infec- companies have been at-
tions were reported with tacked but have not yet
the start of the workweek, come forward to report it,
largely in Asia, which had a law enforcement official
been closed for business told The Associated Press.
when the “ransomware” The official was not au-
locked up computers Fri- thorized to speak publicly
day at hospitals, factories, about the investigation.
government agencies, In China, state media said
banks and other business- more than 29,000 institu-
es. tions there had been in-
But the big second-wave fected along with hun-
outbreak that many feared dreds of thousands of
they would see when us- devices. Universities and
ers returned to their offic- other schools were among
es Monday morning and the hardest hit. Railway sta-
switched their computers tions, mail delivery, gas sta-
back on failed to materi- Stijn Vanveerdeghem, left, an engineer with Cisco, shows graphics with live wireless traffic to Fe- tions, hospitals, office build-
alize. Lynne Owens, direc- dEx employee Barry Poole during the RSA Conference in San Francisco, where threat analysts, se- ings, shopping malls and
tor-general of Britain’s Na- curity vendors and corporate IT administrators gathered to talk about malicious software, spear- government services were
tional Crime Agency, said phishing and other attacks that can steal money or secrets from companies and consumers. As also said to be affected.
there was no indication the Friday, May 12, 2017, global cyberextortion attack that held people’s computer files hostage In Japan, companies such
of a second surge in the slows, authorities are working to catch the crooks behind it, which is a difficult task that involves as Hitachi and Nissan re-
searching for digital clues and following the money.
cyberattack but warned, (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez) ported problems but said
“That doesn’t mean there their operations had not
won’t be one.” soft Windows in some 150 how it was run. WannaCry “You are dealing with a been seriously affected.
Security researchers in the countries. It encrypted us- is a sophisticated piece of criminal,” he said. “It’s like In Indonesia, the ransom-
meantime have been dis- ers’ computer files and work, he said, which helps after a robber enters your ware locked patient files
assembling the malicious displayed a message de- rule out the possibility it was home. You can change on computers in two hospi-
software, known as Wann- manding anywhere from released by mere prank- the locks, but what has tals in the capital, Jakarta,
aCry, in hopes of uncover- $300 to $600 to release sters or lower-level thieves. happened cannot be un- causing delays.
ing clues to who released them; failure to pay would As for anonymous bitcoin done.” Meanwhile, auto- Experts urged organiza-
it. They are doing the same leave the data mangled transactions, he said, it is maker Renault decided tions and companies to
with the “phishing” emails and likely beyond repair. sometimes possible to fol- not to reopen a 3,500-em- immediately update older
that helped the ransom- A cybersecurity researcher low them until an identifi- ployee plant in France on Microsoft operating sys-
ware embed itself in com- in Britain managed to slow able person is found. Monday as a “preventa- tems, such as Windows XP,
puters. down its spread by acti- So far, not many people tive step.” Lebanon’s cen- with a patch released by
Investigators also hope to vating the software’s “kill have paid the ransom, tral bank temporarily sus- the company.q