Ransomware Infection: 30 PCs in Bangladesh affected

At least 30 computers in Bangladesh have reportedly been infected by a ransomware that affected thousands of computers in nearly 150 countries since Friday.

Crime Research and Analysis Foundation, a non-government research organisation, said it got reports of the malware, known as WannaCry, affecting the computers of 30 individuals until yesterday.

Tanvir Hassan Zoha, adviser of the foundation, said no doubt this was a targeted attack, but fortunately Bangladesh was not their target.

“I have information that the number of affected people [in Bangladesh] is more than that, but we can confirm only 30,” he said.

The IT expert said two television channels were also affected. He, however, refused to name them.

“A large number of organisations are trying to hide information since they consider that revealing the information might damage their reputation,” Zoha added.

Researchers, experts, and policy makers said this was a wake-up call for all.

Earlier, Faria Hossain, a joint news editor of Asian TV, said four of their desktops were “attacked” Friday evening.

Security experts said the risk of being infected was high as many individuals and companies in Bangladesh use pirated software.

They urged users to be more careful when it comes to downloading attached links, software or antivirus. Users should be alert even when they download mobile phone applications.

“We are very fortunate that nothing serious happened this time, but we need to go for massive campaign immediately,” said Sumon Ahmed Sabir, chief strategy officer of Fibre@Home, an international internet gateway firm.

Yesterday, the Posts and Telecommunications Division organised a meeting on cyber security. A decision on launching a separate awareness campaign, involving the media, against cyber attacks was made at the meeting.

Subir Kishore Choudhury, acting secretary of the Information Communication Technology division, said Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission would launch the campaign soon.

State Minister for Post and Telecommunications Tarana Halim chaired the meeting in which the ICT division, the telecom regulator and other security and law enforcement agencies were present.

Subir Kishore said the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) on its website mentioned about six points related to cyber safety and security of individuals.

The country as a whole was safe so far from the attack, the ICT secretary noted, adding that there were some vulnerabilities on individual level.

In the meeting, stakeholders said everybody was working separately and that there was no coordination.

The telecom division would write to the Prime Minister's Office, asking it to organise a coordination meeting on cyber security.