Global hack spares Kingdom

A computer runs Windows in an office building in Washington, DC, last week. An unprecedented cyberattack affected Windows systems in more than 150 countries and struck state agencies and major companies around the world, but appears to have missed the Kingdom. Andrew Caballeto-Reynolds/AFP

Mon, 15 May 2017

Ananth Baliga and Mech Dara

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The head of an industry telecom body said Cambodia had so far been untouched by a global cyberattack that has affected over 200,000 victims across 150 countries.

Starting on Friday, ransomware, dubbed “WannaCry”, had penetrated PCs connected to the internet – particularly those running old Windows XP software – encrypting a victim’s files and demanding $300 to unlock the data. The malware is believed to have been developed by the US National Security Agency, and was made public in April by hacking group Shadow Brokers, according to Agence France Presse.

Steven Path, president of ICT Federation of Cambodia, said his group had not seen any attacks so far among its members but were still trying to gather more information on the hack.

“It seems to be spreading very fast across Europe and the US,” he said. “We have not heard of any attacks in Cambodia.”

Path said the federation was collecting information about the attack and would send an advisory to its members soon on potential warning signs to detect imminent attacks.

The malware has so far affected major corporations, such as FedEx and French carmaker Renault, but has also infected government institutions in Russia and the United Kingdom’s National Health Service.

Steve Miller, general manager at internet service provider Today Communications, said his firm was yet to detect an attack but was still assessing the situation.

Sou Bunsou, a deputy at the Interior Ministry’s Cybercrimes Department, declined to comment, directing queries to ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak, who could not be reached yesterday. Multiple officials at the Telecommunications Ministry said they were unaware of the attack.