Exactly three years ago, a scourge known as WannaCry ransomware began its global spread. For Avast researchers, May 12, 2017 started like a typical Friday until Avast Antivirus blocked 2,000 users from ransomware attacks at 8am. Within the next hour, another 6,000 Avast users were blocked from the same kind of ransomware. The next hour, saw another 10,000. Avast users were safe from the WannaCry attack, as were those running an updated version of Windows, but many people around the globe suffered damage that day. By the time Saturday morning dawned, WannaCry had infected over 230,000 Windows PCs across 150 countries, causing an estimated $4 billion in losses.
