Ransomware cyber-attack escalating

Unpublished
London - Friday's cyber-attack has affected more than 200,000 victims in 150 countries, Europol chief Rob Wainwright says. He told the BBC the act was "unprecedented in its scale" and warned more people could find themselves affected on Monday morning. The virus took control of users' files, demanding payments; Russia and the UK were among the worst-hit countries. Experts say another attack could be imminent and have warned people to ensure their security is up to date. Mr Wainwright said that the ransomware was being combined with a worm application allowing the "infection of one computer to quickly spread across the networks". He added: "That's why we're seeing these numbers increasing all the time." Although a temporary fix earlier slowed the infection rate, the attackers had now released a new version of the ransomware, he said. Companies need to make sure they have updated their systems and "patched where they should" before staff arrived for work on Monday morning, the EU law enforcement agency head said. In England, 48 National Health Service (NHS) trusts reported problems at hospitals, GP surgeries or pharmacies, and 13 NHS organisations in Scotland were also affected.(FA)

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