Wanna Cry
Have you heard about the “Wanna cry” attack?
In 2017 more than 230,000 computers worldwide were infected by an unknown virus. The Wanna Cry virus encrypted most of the data on these computers and demanded money to release them. And the worst thing is that it could spread by itself. In only one day more than 230.000 computers in more than 150 countries were infected.
The main target was the computers that used Microsoft Windows as an operating system. So, every facility that was using Microsoft Windows without the latest security update, was at risk and every personal computer which used unsupported versions of the Microsoft windows was at risk too.
The virus was defeated within a few days when Microsoft released emergency patches but there were already damages from hundreds of millions to billion
s of dollars.
The second patch from this virus made the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company temporarily shut down most of its factories machine because the virus spread to 10,000 machines.
What is a computer virus?
In simple terms, computer viruses are programs or software or simply a code that can harm the computer. It modifies the programs that are already installed and then insert their own code. But why would anybody create a computer virus? It can be to test security systems and find out their weak points, it can be to send a political message, or it can be to seek profit.
Anti-virus software
An anti-virus or an anti-malware software is a program that is used to detect and remove the virus. These programs are used worldwide to protect personal computers or organaizations from being attacked by any virus. Hence, keeping the data safe and saving the money.