As Monday Rolls Around Friday's Ransomware Attack is Expected to Grow

As Monday morning rolls around, computer experts and cybersecurity specialists alike are warning that Friday’s worldwide ransomware attack could get worse. All users are advised to use extreme caution when opening attachments or clicking on links that arrive in email messages, as it’s unclear exactly how the ransomware is making its way around. The infection slowed over the weekend, but researchers are now seeing a new version going around.

Some believe the ransomware is taking advantage of a previously known vulnerability that was released by the group The Shadow Hackers as part of a flaw that the NSA knew about, but did not report. Microsoft is using this as an opportunity to express how important it is that governments, as well as private and public organizations work together with them to close these holes so that attacks like this don’t happen in the future.

Monday morning could cause this ransomware, WannaCry and variations on that name, to spread further as people arrive at work and view email. That’s why if a link or attachment arrives in a message from an unfamiliar sender, it should not be opened or clicked. If anything clickable arrives in email from a known sender but is unexpected, it should be met with extreme caution.

A patch for the vulnerability was released by Microsoft in March, but as this infection shows, some are slow to apply it. It’s more important than ever, as attacks and the cybercriminals themselves become more sophisticated to keep all systems updated with the latest critical and security patches; even if that means applying them outside of a normal patching cycle.

Some media sources are reporting that over 200,000 companies around the world have been affected by this already. More likely are to come when Monday rolls around. Some of the more well known companies affected included FedEx, Germany’s Deutche Bahn, French carmaker Renaut, and Russia’s Interior Ministry.