"I don't believe it will have been a targeted attack, but will simply have been that the ransomware has sought out those organizations that are running susceptible devices", he said.
The Russian interior ministry has confirmed it was hit by the "ransomware" attack, which encrypts data on infected computers and demands payment, usually via the digital currency bitcoin, to release it. Britain's health service was also hit hard today as the attack froze computers at hospitals across the country, shutting down wards, closing emergency rooms and bringing medical treatments to a screeching halt.
Still, only a small number of US-headquartered organizations were hit because the hackers appear to have begun the campaign by targeting organizations in Europe, said Vikram Thakur, research manager with security software maker Symantec.
The software used in the latest attacks is called WannaCry, or Wanna Decryptor, and exploits a vulnerability in the Windows operating system.
The attacks hit a whole range of organisations and businesses worldwide.
French carmaker Renault's assembly plant in Slovenia halted production after it was targeted in the global cyberattack.
In the U.S., FedEx Corp. reported that its Windows computers were "experiencing interference" from malware, but wouldn't say if it had been hit by ransomware.
Chris Wysopal of the software security firm Veracode said criminal organisations were probably behind the attack, given how quickly the malware spread.
More than 75,000 systems in at least 99 countries were infected yesterday with the "WannaCry" ransomware, according to cybersecurity firm Avast.
The British government did not know who was behind the attack but its National Crime Agency was working to find out, interior minister Amber Rudd said.
North Korea sends rare letter of protest over new U.S. sanctions
The North also announced last week that it thwarted what it claims was a CIA-backed attempt to assassinate Kim. House of Representatives should think twice", the committee wrote .
Deutsche Bahn said: "Due to a Trojan attack there are system failures in various areas". Germany's national railway said Saturday departure and arrival display screens at its train stations were affected, but there was no impact on actual train services.
In a statement, computer security group Kaspersky Labs said it was "trying to determine whether it is possible to decrypt data locked in the attack - with the aim of developing a decryption tool as soon as possible".
A cybersecurity researcher appears to have discovered a "kill switch" that can prevent the spread of the WannaCry ransomware - for now - that has caused the cyberattacks wreaking havoc globally.
"We are on a downward slope, the infections are extremely few, because the malware is not able to connect to the registered domain", said Vikram Thakur, principal research manager at Symantec.
The UK's state-run National Health Service declared a "major incident" after the attack, which forced some hospitals to divert ambulances and scrap operations.
It demands payment in three days or the price is doubled, and if none is received in seven days, the files will be deleted, according to the screen message. But the ransomware has stalled the services in all the hospitals.
The hackers, who have not come forward to claim responsibility or otherwise been identified, likely made it a "worm", or self-spreading malware, by exploiting a piece of NSA code known as "Eternal Blue", which was released last month by a group known as the Shadow Brokers, researchers with several private cyber-security firms said. Microsoft swiftly announced that it had already issued software "patches" to fix those holes, but many users haven't yet installed updates or still use older versions of Windows.
Britain's opposition Labour Party said the attack on English hospitals showed the need to place cyber security at the heart of government policy.
But some have cast blame on the United States' National Security Agency (NSA) and other countries' intelligence services for hoarding software vulnerabilities for offensive purposes, rather than quickly alerting technology companies to such flaws.
G7 finance ministers meeting in Italy discussed the attacks and were expected to commit to stepping up global cooperation against a growing threat to their economies.
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