According to press coverage and online resources, in the last 48
hours or so cyber attacks targeted and hit over seventy countries
across Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The attack which seems
unprecedented in scale is reported to have used ransomware (i.e.
malware which, once installed, encrypts a users' own data until
they pay a ransom) sent by email with an attachment. The particular
malware currently reported to be used seems to have already been
identified in the past and Microsoft is said to have already rolled
out a patch to address the issue, however, not all users, among
them apparently numerous hospital systems, have updated such
patch.
As I have written before, while preventing and identifying
potential cyber exposure and weak points should be addressed ahead
of time, organizations and individuals should also carefully
consider in advance their zero-day response once any cyber event
has affected their organization or professional account.
