The Recent Ransomware Attack Could Have Been Avoided with the Use of Blockchain Technology!

Current Scenario

According to reports by various agencies, the recent cyber attack of ransomware knows as ‘WannaCry’ has affected over 200,000 computers in over 150 countries. The ransomware was supposedly spread through spam emails of fake invoices, job offers, etc. which had .zip file attachments. Once the attachment is clicked, it initiates the infections of WannaCry. However, one of the CISCO’s division believes that vulnerable systems which were left open on the internet could be attacked without any need for phishing.

What is ‘WannaCry’

WannaCry is military-grade hacking code which is used by security agencies to hack system of terrorist and other security threats. In April 2017, a group of hackers known by the name Shadow Brokers released a host of tools apparently belonging to NSA, publicly online. One of the tools was ‘Eternal Blue’ exploit of outdated unpatched Microsoft Windows such as XP and Windows server 2003, also known as MS17–010.

How to Know That You Are Infected

The infected computers immediately get a pop-up screen saying “Ooops, your important files are encrypted.” To get back your files, the hackers demand payments of $300 to $600 to be paid using Bitcoins. The ransomware infects commonly used files extensions such as PPT, DOC, and TIFF, along with media files such as MP4 and MKV files.

What Should Be Done Next

For the governments of the world and other security agencies, this is a wake-up call. They need to take a different approach to secure weapons in cyberspace, storing them in a more secure environment, similar to weapons in the physical world. To summarize, cyber weapons are like physical weapons. If these are not protected utilizing the latest security measures such as Blockchain Technology, then It’s like stockpiling a nuclear arsenal in a standard safe.

How Blockchain Solutions Can Help

Blockchain Solutions are based on distributed ledger technology in which all the computer in a Blockchain network (nodes) has a copy of the database. Whenever a change/transaction happens in the database, it is known to all computers in the network which verify the transaction. In other words, there is no centralized location from which the hacker can steal the information. Since the whole network immediately knows about any activity happening in the network, it is almost impossible for a hacker to steal data without raising an alert.

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