{"id":59988,"date":"2018-12-27T14:34:12","date_gmt":"2018-12-27T20:34:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/?p=59988"},"modified":"2018-12-27T14:34:12","modified_gmt":"2018-12-27T20:34:12","slug":"wannacry-still-major-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wannacry-still-major-issue\/","title":{"rendered":"Over a Year Later, WannaCry is Still a Major Issue"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>The First Global Ransomware Attack Wreaking Havoc &#8212; 18 Months Later<\/h3>\n<p>When the first-ever global ransomware attack, WannaCry, took the world by storm, there was a kill-switch developed.\u00a0 Meaning, if the ransomware attempted to run, it would first see if this kill-switch was available.\u00a0 If so, it wouldn&#8217;t encrypt the files; but would remain dormant on the PC, unless removed by the user or security vendor.<\/p>\n<p>Now, a year and a half later, there are still millions of attempts made to execute the dormant ransomware variant, on a weekly basis.\u00a0 According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bleepingcomputer.com\/news\/security\/18-months-later-wannacry-still-lurks-on-infected-computers\/\">Bleeping Computer<\/a>, in a one-week timeframe, the kill switch domain was visited 17 million times.\u00a0 Of these 17 million pings, over 630,000 came from unique IP addresses.\u00a0 The top three countries for these IP addresses are China, Vietnam, and Indonesia.<\/p>\n<p>Theoretically, as long as the kill-switch remains active, the ransomware infection will not encrypt files on these infected devices.\u00a0 However, all it takes is for the kill-switch to be inaccessible for the infection to run wild.\u00a0 For instance, if the ransomware attempted to execute while the internet was down, the kill-switch would be inaccessible.\u00a0 This would give WannaCry the green-light to fully encrypt the device.<\/p>\n<p>It is important users understand if this, or any other form of malware is lurking on their device.\u00a0 Users are encouraged to run a malware scan through their antivirus provider, followed by a restart of their PC.<\/p>\n<p>**For PC Matic users, you will remain to be fully protected from this, and other ransomware variants.\u00a0 For those not using PC Matic, you&#8217;re encouraged to check with your existing antivirus solution to determine if the security vendor would remove the WannaCry virus from endpoints using their security solution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The First Global Ransomware Attack Wreaking Havoc &#8212; 18 Months Later When the first-ever global ransomware attack, WannaCry, took the world by storm, there was a kill-switch developed.\u00a0 Meaning, if the ransomware attempted to run, it would first see if this kill-switch was available.\u00a0 If so, it wouldn&#8217;t encrypt the files; but would remain dormant [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":59941,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,4949,5000],"tags":[4363,5252],"class_list":["post-59988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsletter","category-ransomware","category-ransomwarewar","tag-ransomware","tag-wannacry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Over a Year Later, WannaCry is Still a Major Issue<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Eighteen months after the world&#039;s first global ransomware attack WannaCry occurred, PCs are still struggling to properly thwart infections...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wannacry-still-major-issue\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Over a Year Later, WannaCry is Still a Major Issue\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Eighteen months after the world&#039;s first global ransomware attack WannaCry occurred, PCs are still struggling to properly thwart infections...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wannacry-still-major-issue\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"PC Matic Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pcmatic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-12-27T20:34:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/techtalk_3.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"730\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"414\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kayla Elliott\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@pcmatic\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@pcmatic\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kayla Elliott\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/wannacry-still-major-issue\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/wannacry-still-major-issue\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kayla Elliott\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d4a11f480158af9f8090d8d90e0de8db\"},\"headline\":\"Over a Year Later, WannaCry is Still a Major Issue\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-12-27T20:34:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/wannacry-still-major-issue\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":291,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/wannacry-still-major-issue\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/techtalk_3.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"ransomware\",\"WannaCry\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Newsletter\",\"Ransomware\",\"RansomwareWar\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/wannacry-still-major-issue\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/wannacry-still-major-issue\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/wannacry-still-major-issue\\\/\",\"name\":\"Over a Year Later, WannaCry is Still a Major Issue\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/wannacry-still-major-issue\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/wannacry-still-major-issue\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/techtalk_3.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-12-27T20:34:12+00:00\",\"description\":\"Eighteen months after the world's first global ransomware attack WannaCry occurred, PCs are still struggling to properly thwart infections...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/wannacry-still-major-issue\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/wannacry-still-major-issue\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/wannacry-still-major-issue\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/techtalk_3.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/techtalk_3.jpg\",\"width\":730,\"height\":414,\"caption\":\"Prevent an attack\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/wannacry-still-major-issue\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Over a Year Later, WannaCry is Still a Major Issue\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"PC Matic Blog\",\"description\":\"Tech Tips and Tricks\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"PC Matic - Top Antivirus Company in the USA.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/techtalk.pcmatic.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/PC-MaticLogo-e1472689639222.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/techtalk.pcmatic.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/PC-MaticLogo-e1472689639222.png\",\"width\":1535,\"height\":483,\"caption\":\"PC Matic - Top Antivirus Company in the USA.\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/pcmatic\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/pcmatic\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/pcmaticusa\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/pcmatic\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/c\\\/PCMaticVideo\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d4a11f480158af9f8090d8d90e0de8db\",\"name\":\"Kayla Elliott\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/kayla\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Over a Year Later, WannaCry is Still a Major Issue","description":"Eighteen months after the world's first global ransomware attack WannaCry occurred, PCs are still struggling to properly thwart infections...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wannacry-still-major-issue\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Over a Year Later, WannaCry is Still a Major Issue","og_description":"Eighteen months after the world's first global ransomware attack WannaCry occurred, PCs are still struggling to properly thwart infections...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wannacry-still-major-issue\/","og_site_name":"PC Matic Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pcmatic","article_published_time":"2018-12-27T20:34:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":730,"height":414,"url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/techtalk_3.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kayla Elliott","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@pcmatic","twitter_site":"@pcmatic","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kayla Elliott","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wannacry-still-major-issue\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wannacry-still-major-issue\/"},"author":{"name":"Kayla Elliott","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d4a11f480158af9f8090d8d90e0de8db"},"headline":"Over a Year Later, WannaCry is Still a Major Issue","datePublished":"2018-12-27T20:34:12+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wannacry-still-major-issue\/"},"wordCount":291,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wannacry-still-major-issue\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/techtalk_3.jpg","keywords":["ransomware","WannaCry"],"articleSection":["Newsletter","Ransomware","RansomwareWar"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wannacry-still-major-issue\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wannacry-still-major-issue\/","url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wannacry-still-major-issue\/","name":"Over a Year Later, WannaCry is Still a Major Issue","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wannacry-still-major-issue\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wannacry-still-major-issue\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/techtalk_3.jpg","datePublished":"2018-12-27T20:34:12+00:00","description":"Eighteen months after the world's first global ransomware attack WannaCry occurred, PCs are still struggling to properly thwart infections...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wannacry-still-major-issue\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wannacry-still-major-issue\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wannacry-still-major-issue\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/techtalk_3.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/techtalk_3.jpg","width":730,"height":414,"caption":"Prevent an attack"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wannacry-still-major-issue\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Over a Year Later, WannaCry is Still a Major Issue"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/","name":"PC Matic Blog","description":"Tech Tips and Tricks","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"PC Matic - Top Antivirus Company in the USA.","url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/techtalk.pcmatic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/PC-MaticLogo-e1472689639222.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/techtalk.pcmatic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/PC-MaticLogo-e1472689639222.png","width":1535,"height":483,"caption":"PC Matic - Top Antivirus Company in the USA."},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pcmatic","https:\/\/x.com\/pcmatic","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/pcmaticusa\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/pcmatic","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/PCMaticVideo"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d4a11f480158af9f8090d8d90e0de8db","name":"Kayla Elliott","url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/author\/kayla\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59988\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}