It's Not Ransomware 
 
 Petya Ransomware Outbreak Originated in Ukraine via Tainted Accounting Software 
 
 Vaccine, not Killswitch, Found for Petya (NotPetya) Ransomware Outbreak 
 
 Email Provider Shuts Down Petya Inbox Preventing Victims From Recovering Files 
 
 WannaCry Déjà Vu: Petya Ransomware Outbreak Wreaking Havoc Across the Globe When a computer is infected, the ransomware encrypts important documents and files and then demands a ransom, typically in Bitcoin, for a digital key needed to unlock the files.  Victims of the ongoing Petya cyberattack have paid £7,064 ($9,000) in Bitcoin to hackers so far to try and get their files back — but they won't have much luck. The “Petya” ransomware has caused serious disruption at large firms in Europe and the US, including the advertising firm WPP, French construction materials company Saint-Gobain and Russian steel and oil firms Evraz and Rosneft. The food company Mondelez, legal firm DLA Piper, Danish shipping and transport firm AP Moller-Maersk and Heritage Valley Health System, which runs hospitals and care facilities in Pittsburgh, also said their systems had been hit by the malware. An explanation of how to do this has been posted by security news website Bleeping Computer and has been backed up by several other security experts. Secondly, the malware asks victims to communicate with the attackers via a single email address which has been suspended by the email provider after they discovered what it was being used for.
– Security researchers have been unable to find a "kill switch" for the latest cyberattack hitting systems around the world—but they have developed a vaccine. Researchers say that the Petya ransomware will not encrypt files on computers that have the read-only file "C:\Windows\perfc.dat," the BBC reports. A guide on how to set that up can be found here, though security experts say people running up-to-date versions of Windows will already be protected. And the fix isn't perfect: Researchers warn that although the "vaccination" will make individual computers immune to the attack, the computers could still become "carriers" capable of spreading the malware to others. The cyberattack, which is believed to have originated in a software update for a Ukrainian tax accounting system, spread rapidly around the world Tuesday, with victims including India's largest container port, Russia's biggest oil company, a chocolate factory in Tasmania, and a hospital in Pittsburgh, reports Reuters. The malware encrypted hard drives and demanded $300 in bitcoin to restore files. Around 30 people paid up, though the mailbox involved has now been blocked, Business Insider reports. Analysts tell the Guardian that the low financial return and ineffective payment mechanism suggest that the attack was designed not to make money but to cause chaos in Ukraine, the most affected country.