22-year-old Briton who stopped ransomware virus gets one-week off as reward quoting : premiumtimesng

MalwareTech said he bought the domain name of the kill switch for $10.69 and activated it to make the virus stop spreading. The ransomware virus swept computers running on Microsoft Windows Operating System, especially those not currently supported such as Windows XP, Windows 8 and Windows Server 2003, across the globe. He also warned that the hackers could redesign the virus and launch it against some countries where old Windows computers are still widely in use. But the ransomware virus proved so malicious that Microsoft had to issue another patch for all Windows OS-based computers dating back as far as 14 years. The 22-year-old realised that the cyber criminals who developed the virus had included a "kill switch," which the hackers designed to stop the virus to victims that paid the $300 ransom via Bitcoin.




Some people are embarrassed to report that they have been attacked or afraid that they might be implicated in it, Mr Kolahzadeh said. "They are indiscriminate without regard to a certain person, group or affiliation," Mr Kolahzadeh said. ABU DHABI // Experts warn that the WannaCry virus, which has hit more than 200,000 people in 150 countries, will strike here – and probably already has. Mr Kolahzadeh called for even greater international cooperation to investigate of the attack but said it would not be the last large-scale attack of its kind. The ransomware virus automatically encrypts users' files on infected computers using older Windows software and demands a fee to decipher the data being held hostage.

Anonymous British cyber whiz hailed 'accidental hero' after halting ransomware virus

The National Cyber Security Centre applauded his actions and said in a statement: "Media reports today have rightly praised the efforts of MalwareTech to tackle the Wannacry cyber attack. "These industry partners have helped by offering us intelligence from the sinkholed Wannacry domain. Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid EmailA British cyber whiz has been hailed an "accidental hero" after he stopped the spread of a global virus that brought chaos to networks around the world. The UK-based cyber specialist, known only as MalwareTech, registered a domain name that unexpectedly stopped the spread of the virus. "The NCSC has been working in collaboration with a number of organisations in the cyber security community, including MalwareTech and 2SEC4, to understand and mitigate the current Wannacry ransomware threat.


collected by :Sandra Alex
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