Nearly 30,000 Chinese organisations hit by WannaCry virus

Nearly 30,000 Chinese organisations were attacked by the computer virus “WannaCry” as of 8pm on Saturday local time, Chinese online security company 360 said on Sunday.

Among 29,372 infected organisations, educational institutions suffered the most, accounting for 14.7 percent of cases of infection by the ransomware attack.

After locking down the files, "WannaCry" pops open a window demanding the user to pay an initial ransom of around 300 US dollars worth of Bitcoin to regain control of their computer.

Despite no reports of Chinese paying to decrypt their files, the virus has affected the daily life of Chinese people. Some Chinese government departments have temporarily halted their services to protect their computer from the virus.

Chinese drivers also found some gas stations only allowed cash payment after being attacked by the virus.

“WannaCry” is a virus released by the hacker group Shadow Brokers, with some of its components believed to be from tools used by the US National Security Agency (NSA).

In total, more than 100,000 organisations in nearly 100 countries have been attacked by the virus since Friday.

(GBTIMES)