12,000 variants of WannaCry ransomware found to be existing in the cyber world

Even after two years of discovery, WannaCry ransomware was found to dwell in more than 12,000 variants. WannaCry was well known in 2017 after it caused menace and disruptions for various security analysts and IT professionals.

2,725 variants of WannaCry are found to have a bypass for the kill switch code. Researchers have found that the kill switch code that eliminates WannaCry was made in 2017 soon after the attack. However, WannaCry has now been updated and has a bypass mechanism for that kill switch code. 11 of these variants were responsible for 4.3 million attacks and the true binary of WannaCry was detected only 40 times.

The U.S. remains the main target of WannaCry attacks. More than 22% of the attacks were conducted in the U.S., India and Peru follow as they were under the threat of similar attacks. The fact that the ransomware detected 2 years ago is still relevant shows that there are still machines which are not properly patched. Such devices are not only vulnerable to WannaCry but can be easy pickings for other virus attacks.

NPAV recommends installing all the updates and patches related to security/privacy. Stay aware of such updates and have knowledge of the features that these patches and updates bring to your system.

Use NPAV Z-Security for complete protection against all ransomware attacks.