The so-called Petya ransom ware attack originated in Ukraine on Tuesday‚ spreading through Europe and across the globe into Wednesday.
And while there was minimal impact in South Africa‚ local online security experts believe that the hackers could have been testing the waters to see who was vulnerable to future attacks.
Ransom ware is malicious code embedded by hackers into companies’ or individuals’ computer networks‚ infecting those systems.
The code essentially locks the system‚ and only the hacker can unlock it – which they will only do once a ransom is paid.
Craig Rosewarne‚ MD of Wolfpack Information Risk‚ said that there were very few South African companies hit.
This was backed up by figures provided by IT security company ESET South Africa‚ which indicated that only 0.03% of all victims were South African. Most of the victims – 75.24% – were in Ukraine‚ followed by 9.06% in Germany and 5.81% in Poland.
