Ransomware News: WannaCry Attack Costs NHS Over $100 Million

Over a year after the initial ransomware attack, WannaCry is still making headlines and causing residual damage. The National Health Service (NHS) has revealed WannaCry costs totaled more than $100 million.

According to estimates from the UK’s Department of Health and Social Care, the initial damages from the attack were about $25 million, but the bulk of the costs came in the aftermath at around $94 million related to IT support and restoring data and systems.

WannaCry hit thousands of organizations in over 150 countries, demanding a ransom equal to roughly $300 per attack. Like other forms of ransomware, WannaCry was spread via phishing emails prompting users to unknowingly download the file and encrypt their data. WannaCry used SAMBA to connect remotely and add their malware to the exploited machine. After WannaCry infiltrated a network, it would spread like a worm If the ransom went unpaid, after a couple of days it increases, and after a slightly longer amount of time the decryption algorithm is deleted and data is lost.

Learn more about how to protect against ransomware and what you can do if you are hit by an attack and find out how Datto Partners were able to avoid the global attack.