Hyderabad: WannaCry, the deadly malware that’s playing havoc in cyberspace across the world, has spread its reach even to Hyderabad.
Three firms including a small-sized IT company faced the brunt of the attack, and cyber crime police has begun a probe.
Systems in Opulentus and MoreVisas, both Immigration and Visa Consultants, as well as Chevronne Softech, were hit by this ransomware.
An IT manager from Chevronne Softech said there was no loss of data since most of their systems were working on Linux platform.
“Few Windows PCs having accounts and finance-related information were affected. The screens of read-your important files have been encrypted and documents, photos, videos, databases and other files are no longer accessible. If you want to decrypt all your files, you need to pay send $300. Payment is accepted in Bitcoin only,” he said.
Around 15 systems in the IT firm were affected and the cyber attackers demanded $300 each for decrypting one system.
The company staffer said that they re-formatted all the computers instead of accepting their demands.
The ransomware attack was noticed on May 15 after which the firm spent three to four days on restoring the systems. A police case was filed on May 22, the IT manager said.
Interestingly the other two affected firms—Opulentus and MoreVisas—had a connection with this IT firm. IT applications and website support are being extended by Chevronne Softech.
When DC tried to get the version on Opulentus, the front office staff stated that their manager was not in office.
Meanwhile, Avinash Mohanty, DCP, CCS, said this was the first police case registered in Hyderabad concerning WannaCry attack.
The police was probing the location of the source —whether it was within the country or from some other part of the world.
Former NASSCOM chairman B.V.R. Mohan Reddy said ransomware impact on IT industry was very minimal. “WannaCry was affecting systems running on Microsoft. Hence the company released a patch soon to overcome this; and most of the IT firms updated it. Also, an updated anti-virus program ensured no impact on systems,” he said.
Chand Pasha, Inspector, Cyber Crimes, said the FIR was registered on May 22 and they told the company representatives to assist them by providing information to probe the case. Nearly 25 to 30 computers were affected by the cyber attack.
