Publish Date: 30 May 2017 - 13:23

TEHRAN, May 30 (MNA) – A massive cyber-attack using tools stolen from the US National Security Agency (NSA) has struck 4,000 computers in Iran, according to Iran’s CERT Coordination Center.

According to reports from Iran’s computer emergency response team (CERT) Coordination Center, known as MAHER, in the last three days alone, 2,000 more computers in Iran were infected by the NSA-derived ransomware despite extensive notifications about the attack and how to avoid it.

Due to ignoring safety recommendations to prevent infection by WannaCry ransomware, the number of infected computers in Iran has risen to 4,000.

About three weeks ago, the ransomware attack struck organizations across the globe by using a tool known as Eternal Blue developed by US spies at the US National Security Agency. Ransomware encrypts data on computers and demands a fee typically payable in untraceable digital currency to unlock them.

MAHER Coordination Center monitored the status of Iran’s network during the days of the attack and timely measures and notifications managed to control the number of infection down to 2,000 computers.

On May 14, Head of Iran’s Passive Defense Organization Brig. Gen. Gholamreza Jalali said that the Organization is prepared to recover data damaged by the NSA-derived ransomware.  

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