WannaCry ransomware attack in Malaysia confirmed

PETALING JAYA: CyberSecurity Malaysia today received its first official report of the infamous WannaCry ransomware cyber attack in the country, confirming the attack has reached Malaysia.
Its chief executive officer Datuk Dr Amirudin Abdul Wahab said the report was lodged by an academic institution, adding there are more incidents he believed were not reported.
"We would like to urge the public (organisations and individual users) to report any type of ransomware attacks to CyberSecurity Malaysia by contacting our Cyber999 help service," he said in a statement today.
Amirudin urged all organisations and system administrators to be alert and continue protecting and securing their network infrastructure from being affected.
"System administrators are urged to patch their systems and keep their users aware of the new ransomware in order to prevent them from clicking on suspicious emails and files," he said.
theSun had today reported that at least 10 Windows computers had been hit with the ransomware, which works by encrypting files on target computers before demanding a ransom be paid in the crypto-currency Bitcoin.
The WannaCry ransomware has hit over 200,000 systems from some 150 countries, with hackers charging US$300 (RM1,295) for their files to be decrypted.
"In general, Malaysians are still unaware of the existence of ransomware. They are advised to equip themselves with cyber security knowledge and use the technology (internet and its application) prudently and ethically," he said.
Meanwhile, IT security service provider LGMS founder Fong Choong Fook said the WannaCry ransomware has been traced back to as early as mid-April in Malaysia.
It was previously reported that the first case of the WannaCry cyber attack in the country had been over the weekend (May 13-14).
"Contrary to what we said earlier (that the first case was this past weekend) it was quite shocking when we found out that the virus had already invaded Malaysia since the second week of April.
"A victim sent us a picture of the screenshot he took of the ransomware that hit his device. But he only told us about it on Monday," he said when contacted today.
Fong added that there are now more than 12 cases of the WannaCry attack that he knew of in the country, up from the 10 he previously said on Monday.
He said it is the prerogative of individual Windows computer users — only Windows computers are vulnerable to the attack due to a loophole in these devices — to ensure that they do not fall victim to the attack.
The public may visit the following website for advisory alert as a preventive measure: https://www.mycert.org.my/en/services/advisories/mycert/2017/main/detail/1263/index.html