{"id":3663,"date":"2018-06-19T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-06-19T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.darkreading.com\/vulnerabilities---threats\/advanced-threats\/how-to-prepare-for-wannacry-20-\/a\/d-id\/1332057"},"modified":"2018-06-19T18:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-06-19T18:00:00","slug":"how-to-prepare-for-wannacry-2-0","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/how-to-prepare-for-wannacry-2-0\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Prepare for ‘WannaCry 2.0’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It seems inevitable that a more-powerful follow-up to last year’s malware attack will hit sooner or later. You’d better get prepared.<\/span> <\/p>\n

More than a year after it first struck, WannaCry is still one of the most damaging cyberattacks to date. It cost the global economy billions of dollars, although the impact goes far beyond the money.<\/p>\n

Although companies incurred substantial monetary damages, WannaCry is the clearest example of the physical impact a malware attack can have on critical infrastructure, such as rail systems and hospitals. This can be the case even when the attack does not target or operate on industrial control systems, medical, or Internet of Things devices. WannaCry was “standard” malware aimed at Windows machines. And yet, it affected day-to-day life by preventing employees from getting to work and patients from receiving uninterrupted medical care.<\/p>\n

It’s important to understand the longer-term effects of WannaCry on the cyber ecosystem, and what security professionals should be aware of, because we’ll likely see “WannaCry 2.0” at some point.<\/p>\n

As things stand now, we’re currently in the phase of “WannaCry 1.5,” which is not causing the same level of damage but is still cause for concern. Every day, mutations (some minimal, others significant) of WannaCry appear and are used by ransom-hungry hacking groups. However, as malware becomes more sophisticated, there is an increased chance that a WannaCry 2.0 will become real. The underlying factors that enabled WannaCry to become so successful to its creators are still relevant:<\/p>\n