Daily NEWS Srilanka

Users of computers around the world were faced with inconvenience as a result of a computer virus which spread so rapidly during the past 24 hours.

Unlike any other type of virus, this is identified as something which attacks the computer and in the process demands ransom. By now nearly 6000 computers around the world in 99 countries including Britain, America, China, Russia, Spain, Italy and Taiwan have become disrupted because of this

In the case some email could arrive in the form of a PDF Word document through this Ransomware Virus and in the instance when an attempt is made to open it, all files of the computer instantly gets locked which then is the dangerous element attached to this phenomenon. A specific time limit is allocated with instructions appearing as a message thereafter of how to perform the unlocking process and within that time period the relevant password is provided, whereby it further threateningly announces that it would be if only 300 American dollars is paid according to the 'bitcoin' method, as ransom. This virus has affected computers around the world operating under the Windows type only.

In this connection Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Response Team has issued an announcement and has provided instructions to protect oneself from related foreign reports. What analysts say is that this virus has been created from about an year back and is in circulation. As a safety measure it has been advised to save one's important data in a separate software or to store in a disc and to take care when opening an outside mail and further cautions not to make any payments complying with the ransom message. In order to rescue computers from this problematic situation, anti-virus software companies are already preparing procedures to counteract this phenomenon. Shown below is a Sinhala video published by Kirthi Dayawansha identifying this virus