WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Cybersecurity researchers have found a fix for the systems affected by WannaCry ransomware virus.
The ransomware started attacking computers worldwide last Friday, affecting over 300,000 computers around the world. The hackers have demand a sum of $300 to $600 to release a computer that has been locked out by the virus. They have made over $93,000 till now.
Meanwhile, a team of security researchers found a way to unlock the encryption key for files hit by the virus. Several independent security researchers have tested it and confirmed.
However, the solution will work only for certain victims, i.e. computers on versions from Windows XP to Windows 7 and if the infected computers have not been rebooted.
Europol have confirmed that its European Cybercrime Centre tested the team's new tool and said it was 'found to recover data in some circumstances'.
Quarks Lab researcher Adrien Guinet in collaboration with hacker Matthieu Suiche and Benjamin Delpy have developed a tool called 'WannaKey', which does an RSA key recovery on Windows XP devices and generates a decryption code from the computer's memory.
Users can download the key through Delpy's GitHub page. Suiche has published a blog with technical details to help unlock your infected systems. Interested people can visit the blog: https://blog.comae.io/wannacry-decrypting-files-with-wanakiwi-demo-86bafb81112d?gi=e2a32b108b50
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX