The Impact of Cyberattacks
The impact of modern technology has heavily led to the creation of recent technologies
and led to the creation of new innovations that have improved the way humans operate. While the
creation of these recent technologies has granted better ways for us to operate, they have also
brought an increase in threats that can damage the integrity of these technologies. These threats
are considered cyberattacks and they can range from small to large, as well as differentiating
between what kind of technology it is going to attack. With cyberattacks, there are many common
variations like DDOS attacks, MITM attacks, phishing attacks, ransomware attacks, and SQL
injection attacks. While each of these various attacks may have different means of attacking cyber
technology, each attack’s goal is to find a suitable target from which it can change, destroy, or steal
data from the target. With cyberattacks increasing in recent years it has become a vital point for us
humans to examine the core of these attacks and how they operate. By examining how these
cyberattacks work we can understand the vulnerabilities the attack looks for when choosing a
target, as well as understand how the breach works against the target. By examining how the breach
works we can also gather information about what devices are affected and how they are affected.
With this information introduced this paper will examine the cyberattack of WannaCry
Ransomware that occurred in 2017.
A World Consumed by Digitization
Before there can be an examination of the WannaCry ransomware we must first investigate
how this cyberattack gained traction in the first place. With the world diving headfirst into a new
modern era of digitization this has created a new way of storing our information. In the past, we would have stored our information on pieces of paper and exchanged it through face-to-face
interaction. But with the use of digitization and the help of the internet, we can access our stored
information and data, as well as send this information to another person through a message or
email. The use of digitization has transformed the way we store, access, and send our information.
This innovation has allowed us to simply access our stored information effortlessly on our
technological devices like our computers and phones. While digitization has amazing advantages
it has one glaring drawback that puts the likes of security in danger. With all our personal data
stored digitally on our computers and phones, this was a vital starting point for the WannaCry
ransomware attack. As mentioned before, each cyberattack has separate ways of compromising its
target, in which this case the integrity of digitization can be compromised using ransomware. The
use of ransomware allows a cybercriminal to infect our personal data and files that are attached to
our computers or phones. If this infection of ransomware is successful, the integrity of digitization
is lost along with personal and confidential information. We can obtain our personal information
back usually through the paying of a ransom, hence the name ransomware. With the setting of a
ransom, the cybercriminal can obtain money from us in exchange for our personal data and files
that were infected. In any case, this does not guarantee that cybercriminals will return the personal
data in its previous condition. The use of digitization has impacted our lives drastically, some for
better and some for worse.
The WannaCry Ransomware Attack (2017)
The impact of digitization was a crucial factor in the WannaCry Ransomware attack that
occurred in 2017. In 2017, the WannaCry ransomware attack was classified as one of the worst
attacks that have ever been recorded (Mohurle & Patil, 2017). The WannaCry Ransomware attack
was considered malicious software that blocked one’s access to personal files or data that was attached to a system. The malicious software held personal devices hostage and files that were
associated with the devices. The holding of personal devices and files hostage led to the
cybercriminals asking for a ransom to be paid. If users of personal devices/files granted the
cybercriminals the suggested ransom, they would grant the users a decryption key. This decryption
key allowed the users to access their personal devices and files that were comprised by the
malicious software. The WannaCry Ransomware attack affected many places like hospitals,
executive companies, universities, and government organizations. Across each of these places, a
total of two million people were subjected to their computers being locked, as well as requests for
a ransom to be paid. This attack was felt worldwide across many countries and specific regions
located within these countries. The WannaCry Ransomware attack was felt the most within the
country India. With the specific regions of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Delhi being affected
at higher levels. When examining the attacks on these specific regions in India it was determined
that Madhya Pradesh experienced the most from the WannaCry attack, around 32.6%. Next in line
was the region of Maharashtra in which they experienced around 18.8% of the WannaCry attack.
The region that experienced the third most amount was the region of Delhi, in which they
experienced 8.8%. India was not the only country to feel the effects of the WannaCry Ransomware
attack. Countries like Germany felt the attacks within their executive companies like FedEx,
Nissan, and railroad companies. Russia felt the impacts of the ransomware attack on their railroad
companies. The country of Spain experiences the impacts through its communications department,
more specifically the company of megaforTelefornica (Mohurle & Patil, 2017). The United
Kingdom felt the impacts of ransomware attacks through their departments of the National Health
Service. The country China felt the effects of this attack within the likes of education, in which
colleges and students were affected. This attack created much instability within multiple countries and led to the disruption of executive companies, communication departments, health services,
and educational environments.
Prevention of Ransomware attacks
Even with the WannaCry Ransomware attack happening 6 years ago it was vital that we
examined this incident to learn about the ways to prevent this from happening again. With this
incident affecting multiple countries, as well as multiple aspects of our lives, the need for
protection is a necessity. The necessity for protection will allow us to form a need to keep our
devices and data safe from ransomware attacks. When looking into ideas for protection we should
always monitor and implement system and software updates to keep the technology on track with
the latest specs. Ransomware can be distributed through different methods like emails, certain
types of advertisements, or websites. With this in mind implementing a multi-layer protection
system and backing up data files is a starting point in protecting against a cyberattack, especially
ransomware. While installing a multi-layer protection system and backing up files is important
there are other methods and practices we can use to protect against ransomware. With ransomware
being able to be distributed through the means of email it is vital that we are careful when looking
at emails. By examining our emails, we can prevent the chance of us clicking on a harmful email
that might contain ransomware. While our devices are equipped with protective mechanisms, these
mechanisms need to be regularly checked. Keeping an eye on this mechanism allows us to install
up-to-date patches within the likes of antivirus, operating systems, and browsers. A ransomware
attack can happen at any time and be distributed through various places, so it is vital that we create
a sense of cybersecurity awareness as well as implementing ways of protection
Impact of WannaCry on Today’s Society
The WannaCry Ransomware incident came as a shock for many countries around the world
and shed light on many vulnerabilities that are associated with our modern technology. With this
event, we were able to examine and learn the vulnerabilities that were compromised and how this
ransomware affected our devices and the data associated with it. The examination of the WannaCry
incident allowed us to form options to protect against a future ransomware attack, like defend,
defund, and deter. Each of these options will allow us to protect our personal devices from
ransomware, as well as the various aspects of our lives like executive companies, communications
departments, health services, and educational environments. Ransomware will continue to grow
stronger, so it is necessary that we are able to live and manage these ransomware attacks while
being able to implement protective methods and practices.
Conclusion
The WannaCry Ransomware attack of 2017 was a devastating blow to the likes of
digitization and modern technology. Its impacts were felt worldwide and disrupted many aspects
of life like executive companies, health services, communications departments, and educational
environments. While the effects of the WannaCry attack affected millions of people and multiple
countries it gave a motive to better protect our devices and the data connected to it. By experiencing
this attack, we were able to create better methods and strategies to prevent these types of attacks
from occurring again. Using modern technology presents the risk of modern threats so the
importance of defending this technology is a vital key to the success of preventing ransomware
attacks in the future.
Works Cited
Fruhlinger, J. (2022, August 24). WannaCry explained: A perfect ransomware storm. CSO
Online. Retrieved April 15, 2023, from
https://www.csoonline.com/article/3227906/wannacry-explained-a-perfect-ransomware-
storm.html
Gregory, J. (2023, April 14). What has changed since the 2017 WannaCry ransomware attack?
Security Intelligence. Retrieved April 15, 2023, from
https://securityintelligence.com/articles/what-has-changed-since-wannacry-ransomware-
attack/
Hsiao, S. C., & Kao, D. Y. (2018, February). The static analysis of WannaCry ransomware. In
2018 20th international conference on advanced communication technology (ICACT) (pp.
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Mohurle, S., & Patil, M. (2017). A brief study of WannaCry threat: Ransomware attack 2017.
International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science, 8(5), 1938-1940.