Thiruvananthapuram: The state government has enhanced firewall protection of the state data centres and state government's computer networks amid reports that 30 computers in six panchayats across the state were found to be affected by the dangerous WannaCry ransomware that disabled lakhs of computers world-wide.
Since the panchayats are using the national optic fibre network, the BSNL that maintains the network was also alerted to ensure the safety, Kerala State IT Mission director Sreeram Sambasiva Rao said.
The six panchayats where computers have been affected are Thariyod in Wayanad, Kuzhoor and Annamanada in Thrissur, Aruvappulam in Pathanamthitta, Thrikkovilvattom in Kollam and Karavaram in Thiruvananthapuram.
Four computers at Thariyod were disabled. Though the incident was noticed on May 12, the panchayat staff were unaware of the ransomware and it was identified only on Monday morning when the office opened after two days’ leave. Windows 7 operating system is being used in all the four systems and they had only unimportant information.
The files were encrypted by the hackers, eliminating the possibilities of decrypting the files, except through the key used for encrypting.
The information that appeared on the attacked systems says $300 should be given in two days to decrypt the files. “It says the amount would double in the next two days. It said the ransom offer is only for a week and after that the entire database would be destroyed,”said Vythiri inspector K. Abdul Shareef, who is the probing officer.
“We have 14 computers in the GP office. The attacked ones contain only postal correspondence details. No important information was kept in those systems,” said Thariyod GP president Reena Sunil. Vythiri police has registered a case on the complaint of the GP secretary. “An FIR has been registered and a probe is on. The help of cyber cell or cyberdome would be sought,” said district police chief Rajpal Meena.
“We are not able to open the account files and while opening, we are getting a message that the files could not be opened till 22nd this month and to open the blocked files $ 300 need to be paid for each computer,” president of
Kuzhoor panchayat P. Santhakumari said.
