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Worldwide ransomware not yet affecting Jamaica - Wheatley

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Dr. Andrew Wheatley

 

Technology Minister Dr. Andrew Wheatley says he is not aware of Jamaica being affected by a massive ransomware campaign which has been detected in more than 70 countries.
  
The computer virus appears to have infected a number of organisations around the world.
 
Computers in thousands of locations have apparently been locked by a program that demands US$300 in Bitcoin.
  
The BBC on Friday said there have been reports of infections in various countries, including the United Kingdom, United States, China, Russia, Spain, Italy and Taiwan.     

Many security researchers are linking the incidents together.
  
A cyber-security researcher tweeted that he detected thousands of cases of  the ransomware - known as WannaCry and variants of that name - around the world.
  
Cyber-security firm, Kaspersky, said the ransomware had been spotted cropping up in 74 countries and the number is growing.
  
There were a number of reports that Russia had seen more infections than any other country.
  
Several experts monitoring the situation have linked the infections to vulnerabilities released by a group known as The Shadow Brokers, which recently claimed to have dumped hacking tools stolen from the US National Security Agency.
  
Unlike many other malicious programs, ransomware has the ability to move around a network by itself. Most others rely on humans to spread by tricking them into clicking on an attachment harbouring the attack code.

But Jamaica's technology minister said local authorities are on alert in the wake of the threat of the computer virus.

"(We) are asking persons to desist from clicking on a particular link, but the notification is being circulated locally, so we are continuing the process of monitoring thie situation," he said.



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