Hospitals, schools, companies and governments around the world were assessing the damage Saturday after a massive cyberattack hit almost 100 countries, infecting computers with malware that demanded ransom payments.No one has yet claimed responsibility for the worldwide attack, which some experts believe was inspired by a National Security Agency tool kit that was leaked last year.Antivirus provider Avast reported that some 100,000 computers had been infected by the crippling malware and that the "WanaCrypt0r 2.0," as it is called, ransomware had been detected in 99 countries with Russia, Ukraine and Taiwan the top targets.More than 20 British hospitals and major companies, including FedEx and Spain's largest telecom, were affected in Friday's hack.British Home Secretary Amber Rudd said 45 public health organizations had been hit and admitted that her officials had no idea who was behind the attack.Auto makers Renault and Nissan were the latest multinationals to announce their computer systems had been compromised.

In Germany, customer information screens at railway stations were hit but there was no impact on services.Russia's Interior Ministry also confirmed it had been hit, while Russia's central bank said it had thwarted the attack.The malicious software — known as the Wanna Decryptor, or WannaCry — locks a system and its files from use unless money is paid to hackers.The malware typically spreads through email phishing programs and had exploited a known bug in Microsoft Windows' operating system.It is especially nasty because it acts like a worm — finding security holes in a computer to spread throughout a network.Computer experts told NBC News that the leaked NSA tool kit demonstrated to the hackers how they could attack Windows systems.But they specified that whoever was behind the attack did not use an NSA ransomware tool as some media reports have suggested.Andrew Komarov, chief intelligence officer for the cybersecurity firm InfoArmor, said there was no indication that either WannaCry or Friday's attack had anything to do with the NSA "or any other state-sponsored cyber offensive activities."

It was the size of the attack that shocked experts."The scale of it — that's pretty unprecedented," Ben Rapp, the CEO of IT support company Managed Networks, told NBC News' British partner ITV News."There's been a lot of ransomware in hospitals, but to see 16 hospitals, last time I looked, and reports of other people — this is probably the biggest ransomware attack we've seen."Microsoft said it was pushing out automatic Windows updates to defend its clients from the malware.This is a special case.Had @NSAGov disclosed the vuln when they discovered it, hospitals would have had years -- not months -- to prepare.https://t.co/HJj1TsfQYn— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) May 12, 2017 The U.S.Department of Homeland Security said Microsoft released a patch to address the vulnerability in March and urged users to install it.Whistleblower Edward Snowden blamed the NSA for the damage, tweeting: "If @NSAGov had privately disclosed the flaw used to attack hospitals when they *found* it, not when they lost it, this may not have happened."

In a statement, FedEx said that it was "experiencing interference with some of our Windows-based systems caused by malware.We are implementing remediation steps as quickly as possible."The Memphis, Tennessee-based global delivery company did not immediately say whether a ransom was demanded for return of their computers' functions.Spanish telecom giant Telefonica confirmed in a statement that a "cybersecurity incident" occurred Friday that affected the computers at its Madrid headquarters.comprar bitcoin paypalChina's official news agency Xinhua said secondary schools and universities were hit, but did not say how many or identify them.okpay to bitcoinIt could take days before some affected systems are cleaned up.bitcoin crash dec 2013

In a twist, a 22-year-old U.K.cybersecurity researcher, known online as MalwareTech, has been hailed as an "accidental hero" for halting the spread of the malware bug.The researcher reportedly identified a domain name in the malware virus and purchased the site, which acted as a "kill switch", according to ITV News.He told NBC News that he purchased the site to track the malware virus — not realizing it would stop it from spreading further.bitcoin future valuationIt is not the first time ransomware has been used, and sometimes, hackers hit the jackpot: Last year, Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center forked over $17,000 after suffering a ransomware attack.litecoin lowFriday's demand — reportedly for $300 of digital currency Bitcoin — is relatively low, according to experts.bitcoin sdk for ios

"It's a small ransom," said Gene Spafford, founder and executive director emeritus of Purdue University's Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security."But if you set the price too high then many of their victims won't pay."Spafford said ransomware typically targets those without strong security in place, such as home users and small companies.The mayor of the small community of Timra, Sweden — population 10,000 — told Reuters it has "around 70" computers affected.bitcoin flash crashAt the North American International Cyber Summit, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan admitted that Detroit’s entire city database was encrypted and held for a ransom of 2,000 bitcoins worth about $800,000.bitcoin wikipedia donationNo, Detroit didn’t pay back in April, as the database wasn’t needed by the city, but Duggan described the wake up to ransomware as a "good warning sign for us."Whenbitcoin cloud bet

he began his four-year term as mayor on Jan.1, he said, “It was pretty disturbing what I found.I found the Microsoft Office system we had was about 10 years old and couldn’t sync the calendar to my phone.” The city is now in the “early stages of ramping up,” improving security and updating technologies.Zscaler ThreatLab said ransomware is one of the most popular malware threats this year, and claims infection rates have increased 700%.University of Delaware IT reported that CryptoLocker had infected computers on campus last year, and CryptoWall was making the rounds now.That prompted a University of Delaware CryptoWall infection warning.“CryptoWall is much like the CryptoLocker malware we saw last year, but it’s even more pervasive,” says Joe Kempista, director of IT Client Support and Services.“We urge students and employees to follow safe computing practices like backing up files, checking links and attachments, and updating software.”When a computer system at the Sheriff’s Office in Dickinson, Tennessee, was hit by CryptoWall, they chose to pay the ransom of $500…something experts say never to do.

This happened in October and it wasn’t a targeted attack.Someone was streaming a radio station and “mistakenly clicked on a rotating ad.” Boom!Detective Jeff McCliss is the agency’s IT director who recently had to learn what happens when autopsy reports, witness statements and crime scene photographs suddenly aren't available."Every sort of document that you could develop in an investigation was in that folder.There was a total of 72,000 files,” he said.McCliss said after consulting with the TBI, FBI and even the military they realized the only way to get back their precious case files was to pay."Is it better to take a stand and lose all that information?Or make the payment, grit your teeth and just do it?” he said."It made me sick to have to do that."Although many types of ransomware have tried to piggyback on the fame of CryptoLocker, that may be changing.Now cyber-crooks are trying a different user-friendly tactic, as if trying to show how trustworthy they are while extorting money from victims.

Sounds crazy, but Webroot malware researcher Tyler Moffitt thinks it’s a scam that might just be crazy enough to work.Less than a week ago, Webroot Threat Blog discovered CoinVault, a new breed of ransomware."This is the first encrypting ransomware that I’ve seen which actually gives you a free decrypt," Moffitt wrote.Victims infected with CoinVault are asked to pay 0.5 bitcoins, which is currently equal to about $188, for the decryption key.Every 24 hours that pass without the victim paying, the cost increases.Victims can select any one file to be decrypted for free.“It will let you pick any single file that you need after encryption and will decrypt it for you,” Moffitt explained.“This is a really interesting feature and it gives a good insight into what the actual decryption routine is like if you find yourself actually having to pay them.I suspect that this freebie will increase the number of people who will pay.”Moral of the story?Backup your computer every day!Oh, and don’t leave the backup connected as a discoverable drive, or it would do a victim no good when it too gets encrypted with ransomware.