Not only blackmail, WannaCry malicious code can be deadly

The new type of extortion attack code disables many computers at British hospitals, causing health care operations to stall.

The ransomware extortion code has spread across 150 countries, according to a recent Kaspersky report. Not merely the data theft attacks as before, this dangerous malicious code is indirectly threatening the lives of many people.

The attackers targeted the computer inside the UK's National Health Care Service (NHS), causing great disruption to the agency's operation. Many of the agency's computers shut down, which could jeopardize the health of many patients, according to Mashable.

The WannaCry malicious code is spreading with tremendous speed in many countries. (Photo: The Hacker News).

Security experts have long used the phrase "bits and bytes to create blood and tears" but not until the recent attack, people really understood this problem.

Currently, there have been no reports of people being killed due to the attack. However, many hospitals in the UK were forced to move patients from where the computer was infected. Staff at these hospitals also require patients not to go to the hospital, except in an emergency.

At many hospitals in the UK, staff cannot review medical records. Others have to postpone appointments with patients. Business Insider affirmed that hospital staff are using paper and pen to work.

Imagining a scenario, hospitals in 150 countries with WannaCry malware spread were attacked. It will cause very serious consequences. In an advanced country like the US, security experts also feel extremely worried.

Joshua Corman of the US health care network security force (Ministry of Health and Human Services) painted a grim picture of security in the country's hospitals. According to him, 85% of hospitals in the United States do not have a proper security specialist.

Even if they have such a personnel, this person may also be hopeless in preventing the ongoing extortion of the global attack. Hospitals often use outdated computers, easily infected with many types of malicious code.

One of the dangers of WannaCry malicious code is that people are worried that it has a very high level of vandalism but there are no signs that make users wary. Its attack method is similar to many other attacks, sending documents with malicious code and waiting for users to open up.

When opened, this malicious code will block all users' data, requesting to pay Bitcoin to unlock it again.

In Vietnam, the Computer Emergency Response Center (VNCERT) has sent warnings to agencies, ministries and businesses across the country on prevention and prevention of WannaCry malicious attacks. According to VNCERT, this is an extremely dangerous type of malicious code, requiring organizations to strictly enforce emergency response coordination.

The new type of extortion attack tool was allowed to use the leaked tool from the US National Security Agency (NSA). It exploits a vulnerability from the Windows operating system to infiltrate and encrypt user data.

Microsoft has released an official patch called MS12-010 a few months ago but not all computers have updated this patch.