Ransomware Global Attack Hits UK And EU For Not Profit

Another ransomware attack hit several countries today, infecting even giant corporations. This is a month after a similar attack using the WannaCry malware, which is still causing damage. Fortunately, it would seem that the attack did not even yield all that much profit for the hackers, which makes this incident something of a mixed bag.

This recent ransomware attack hit companies in the EU bad, including Maersk and Rosneft, The Verge reports. The malware that was used is apparently a variant of something called Petya, which makes use of a tool called EternalBlue that was actually developed by the NSA. It was stolen and spread to the world by a group called Shadow Brokers in April of this year.

What is rather troubling about this particular attack, however, is the fact that countries and companies have long since drawn up protective measures against this particular tool. So instead of breaking through via brute force, the ransomware was made to take advantage of another vulnerability via patches.

Once a certain computer network has been infected, it would spread quickly to other computers connected to said network via tools such as the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI). As a result, the ransomware damages networks from within, saving it the trouble of having to access computers individually.

Then again, it would seem that despite the widespread impact of the infection, the hackers behind the attacked aren’t getting paid all that much. So far, the perpetrators have only received about $7,497 for their work, Tech Crunch reports.

Experts are crediting the rather low payout to the awareness campaigns that the tech world has been engaging in following the WannaCry incident. As a result, a lot more companies and engineers know not to give in to the demands of the hackers. There’s also the matter of hackers no longer being that relevant in terms of how much they can demand from their victims.