Hardly a month has passed since the ill-famed Wannacry attack, and the world has been introduced to a new ransomware, named Petya or Petwrap. Yesterday, it attacked all through the European companies. The Ukrainian government facilities, banks, electric grids, and public transport are reported to be attacked and being demanded of $300 ransom in Bitcoin.
Petya victimizes the Window servers, desktops, and laptops. Apparently, it is an updated variant of the malware virus named Petya. Although the attack vector is different, Petya uses the server message block vulnerability, the one which was used by Wannacry as well.
Petya is being spread through the spear phishing emails. Therefore, any innocent user clicking on a suspicious link means that their data is getting encrypted right then and there. The screen of the user displays the ransom message suggesting a system reboot, doing which the system will not remain accessible by the user anymore. In other words, the operating system would not be able to locate files.
So, what to do to remain secure? Despite Petya targeting companies majorly, it is also important for the users to be aware and take precautions. Following tips will help you stay secure:
- Your antivirus must remain updated. If your antivirus is not up-to-date, update it immediately. The latest version of McAfee protects your system from this attack. Also, ensure that your operating system is updated.
- Do not click suspicious links. Since the cyber attack is spreading through phishing emails, you should check every of your email contents for legitimacy before taking further action. Check the reliability of the links by hovering over those, and see where they are to lead you to. If you are unsure about an email’s content or its source, check in search about the respective campaign for other related data on the web, and 0that whether you can rely on the searched data.
- Have a complete backup. Back up all important data from all of your machines as soon as possible. If Petya infects any machine, data could be wiped off entirely.
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