Author Archives: Avast Blog

Avast blocked WannaCry ransomware 250,000 times in 120 countries worldwide

While the WannaCry ransomware outbreak wreaked havoc on computers around the globe, Avast’s Threat Intelligence team worked around the clock to protect our users. In fact, our team had been tracking an early version of WannaCry since February, well before the first widely detected strain that debuted on Friday, May 12, at which point we detected more than 10,000 infections per hour as it began to spread worldwide.

Syncing individual privacy to global cybersecurity

While most pundits agree that Trump’s first hundred days in office were underwhelming on the legislative front, he did manage to pass a measure on internet privacy that caused quite a stir in the media. This would be the rollback of privacy regulations that prevent ISPs (internet service providers) from selling user browsing history to third parties. As soon as the measure appeared likely to make it to the president’s desk, article after article was written decrying the development. Sensational headlines spelled out the end of the internet as we know it, a complete surrender of our personal data to big corporations, and social media was aflame with cries of “the end of privacy.”

Meet Adylkuzz: cryptocurrency mining malware spreading using the same exploit as WannaCry

WannaCry, the worst ransomware outbreak in history, gained a lot of media attention, but WannaCry isn’t the only malware strain spreading on a massive scale. One of them is Adylkuzz, a cryptocurrency miner, that has been infecting PCs around the world, just like WannaCry.

WannaCry Update – The Worst Ransomware Outbreak in History

While last Friday wasn’t Friday the 13th, it sure seemed like it. PCs around the world, including those belonging to hospitals and government agencies, were hit by the WannaCry (AKA WanaCrypt0r, or WCry) ransomware, causing chaos. Up until now we have seen more than 250,000 detections in 116 countries. About 15% of our more than 400 million users worldwide haven’t patched the MS17-010 vulnerability, which could have made them vulnerable to this attack, if they didn’t have Avast protecting them.

Ransomware that infected Telefonica and NHS hospitals is spreading aggressively, with over 50,000 attacks so far, today

We have observed a massive peak in WanaCrypt0r 2.0 (aka WCry) ransomware attacks today, with more than 57,000 detections, so far. According to our data, the ransomware is mainly being targeted to Russia, Ukraine and Taiwan, but the ransomware has succe…