Back OpEd News | |||||||
Original Content at https://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/How-a-22-year-old-inadvert-in-Sci_Tech-Computers_Disabled_Malware_Worldwide-170514-685.html (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). |
May 14, 2017
How a 22-year-old inadvertently stopped a worldwide cyberattack
By molly cruz
The massive ransomware attack that crippled more than 20% of hospitals in the United Kingdom and disabled systems in as many as 74 countries appears to have been inadvertently stopped by a 22-year-old computer security researcher in England who began studying it Friday afternoon.The malware contained computer code that pinged an unregistered Web address, and if it didn't get back a message saying the address didn't exist, it would turn itself of ...
::::::::
The massive ransomware attack that crippled more than 20% of hospitals in the United Kingdom and disabled systems in as many as 74 countries appears to have been inadvertently stopped by a 22-year-old computer security researcher in England who began studying it Friday afternoon.
The malware contained computer code that pinged an unregistered Web address, and if it didn't get back a message saying the address didn't exist, it would turn itself off. Computers that were already infected with the ransomware weren't protected but the ransomware stopped spreading except in isolated systems, said Williams.