International investigators are hunting for those behind an unprecedented cyber-attack that affected systems in dozens of countries, including at banks, hospitals and government agencies.
The assault is the biggest-ever cyber ransom attack at Russian banks, British hospitals, FedEx and European car factories.
The virus spread quickly because the culprits used a digital code believed to have been developed by the US NSA and subsequently leaked per Moscow-based computer security firm Kaspersky Lab .
Microsoft said the situation was "painful" and that it was taking "all possible actions to protect our customers".
Kaspersky said it was "trying to determine whether it is possible to decrypt data locked in the attack with the aim of developing a decryption tool as soon as possible." A cyber security researcher told AFP he had accidentally discovered a "kill switch" that could prevent the spread of the ransomware.
[phys.org].
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