Friday’s ransomware attack hit over 125,000 computer systems, with 48 National Health Service (NHS) trusts having to cancel appointment and operations.
As nearly 45 NHS organisations from London to Scotland were hit in the “ransomware” attack on Friday, patients of the state-funded countrywide service faced chaos as appointments and surgeries had to be cancelled.
The virus, which took control of users’ files, spread to 100 countries, including India, the UK, Spain, France and Russia.
Oliver Gower of the UK’s National Crime Agency said: “Cyber criminals may believe they are anonymous, but we will use all the tools at our disposal to bring them to justice”.
After taking computers over, the virus displayed messages demanding a payment of 300 dollars in virtual currency Bitcoin to unlock files and return them to the user.
BBC analysis of three accounts linked with the global attack suggests the hackers have already been paid the equivalent of 22,080 pounds (USD 28,458).