Cyber-attack guides promoted on YouTube
Cyber-attack guides promoted on YouTube
By Jon Ungoed-Thomas, Robin Henry and Dipesh Gadher May
14 2017, 12:01am, The Sunday Times
Friday’s cyber-attack hit more than 45,000 organisations
in at least 99 countries
YouTube is providing a platform for criminals promoting
and selling ransomware, the type of malicious software that wreaked havoc in
the NHS.
Hackers are posting step-by-step guides on YouTube on how
to build ransomware. They also provide links to websites where ransomware can
be bought for as little as £16, with technical support on how to infect
people’s computers.
Details of how ransomware is openly promoted and traded
on the internet comes after a global cyber-attack hit more than 45,000
organisations in at least 99 countries. Forty-eight NHS organisations were hit,
including about 30 hospital trusts.
As many as 70,000 NHS devices including computers,
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners, blood-storage fridges and theatre
equipment could have been affected.
As the devices failed, operations were halted mid-surgery
and patients were left stranded in scanners, according to reports from clinical
staff.
This weekend YouTube terminated a channel used by one
hacker and pulled down other ransomware video guides after an investigation by
The Sunday Times.
One hacker, Mohmmad Yahya, posted a video guide on how to
make ransomware. Another YouTube user, Suddendox, posted a video on producing
ransomware with a link to a site where it can be bought for $20.
NHS England said most of the hospitals hit by Friday’s
attack were “running normally” by yesterday afternoon.
The Sunderland plant of the car maker Nissan was also
affected but bosses said there had been no significant impact on its business.
Ciaran Martin, chief executive of the National Cyber
Security Centre, said it was likely other victims of the attacks would emerge
in the coming days.
It is understood the security services do not consider
the attack to have been state-sponsored. One security expert said the malicious
software looked like “the sort of thing someone had put together in their spare
time”.
Jonathan Ashworth, shadow secretary for health, said the
NHS had been unprepared for the attack and an independent inquiry was required
to establish why repeated warnings were not properly acted on.
A YouTube spokesperson said: “YouTube has clear policies
that outline what content is acceptable to post, and we remove videos violating
these policies when we’re made aware of them, terminating the accounts of
repeat offenders. In a small number of cases, ads appear where they shouldn’t
and we act quickly to remove them.”
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