West Bengal power utility comes under WannaCry Ransomware cyber attack

Kolkata: A number of computers at four locations at West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company in West Midnapur on Monday came under the attack of WannaCry, a crypto-ransomware, also known as WannaCrypt. 

The utility is now running the risk of witnessing larger numbers of computer systems getting affected as this ransomware can infect other computers in a network.

As per a report, the bug has been detected at four offices of West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company in West Midnapore district affecting PCs in four blocks of Belda, Datan, Narayngarh and Keshiyari.

WannaCry, without doubt the biggest ransomware attack the world has ever seen, has so far affected at least 1,00,000 computers spread over 100-150 countries, including India. 

The WanaCrypt0r 2.0 bug basically encrypts data on a computer within seconds and displays a message asking the user to pay a ransom of USD 300 in Bitcoins to restore access to the device and the data inside. 

Even FedEx, European car factories, Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica, Britain’s health service and Germany’s Deutsche Bahn rail network have been hit by the bug recently. 

Payment is demanded within three days or the price is doubled, and if none is received within seven days the locked files will be deleted, according to the screen message, agencies reported.

Though it is not really known, as to who are behind the attack, it is widely accepted that the hackers used the 'Eternal Blue Hacking Weapon' created by America's National Security Agency (NSA).

They gained access to Microsoft Windows computers used by terrorist outfits and enemy states.

(Agency inputs)