Government authorities and companies in Qatar have swung into action, taking note of ransomware attack that crippled work of government agencies and private firms across the globe.
The Ministry of Transport and Communications (MOTC) yesterday cautioned entities to be aware of a ransomware malware. Qatar National Information Security Center (Q-cert) has taken proactive steps and a team of specialists at the center is on alert to contain or eradicate any reported infections by the malware.
Companies in the country have issued advisory to their employees to be cautious while opening any file or link from unknown sources. “MOTC’s Qatar National Information Security Center (Q-cert) is guiding all entities and institutions to be aware of a ransomware malware,” said the Ministry in a statement issued yesterday.
“In order to avoid the risks of the ransomware malware, the Center has published several advisories and security tips as well as necessary actions to take in the case of malware infection, calling on all entities to instantly execute advisory actions associated with precautionary measures,” added the Ministry. Q-Cert provides nationwide cyber security response services and they can be reached by e-mail: [email protected] or QCERT hotline: 44933408, said the Ministry. The international ransomware cyber attack, which surfaced on Friday, has so far hit more than 100,000 organisations in at least 150 countries, said Europol, the European Union's police agency.
Employees saw circulars cautioning them about Ransomware after they reach office on Sunday morning.
“Today morning, I received email from our IT section saying not to open any emails or download files from unreliable sources. I was already aware about it because the scale of this attack is huge and everybody is talking about it,” a senior official at a private bank told The Peninsula. Ransomware is malicious software that can lock the user out of his computer and the data stored on it, demanding a ransom to restore access to the data again.
The message appears on the computer display in the form of a warning window titled 'Wana Decrypt0r 2.0', stating that important files including documents, photos, videos, or databases are encrypted and no longer accessible. The warning message may change according to the geo-location of the victim, and using the victim’s IP address, the malicious software will contact the central command and control server to get the appropriate message for the victim’s country.
