MeitY activates preparedness and response mechanism to prevent "WannaCry"

With an aim to prevent the cyber attack "WannaCry", the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) said that it has already activated a "preparedness and response mechanism".

According to MeitY, it has activated a "preparedness and response mechanism" by instructing CERT-In (Computer Emergency Response Team) to gather "all the information of the reported ransomware".

On May 13, CERT- IN issued a red-coloured 'critical alert' for the same.

MeitY has initiated contact with relevant stakeholders in public and private sector to 'patch' their systems as prescribed in the advisory issued by CERT-IN. MeitY has also requested Microsoft India to inform all their partners and customers to apply relevant patches," a statement added.

Meanwhile, CERT-In today said that it has not received any formal report of the cyber attack on India's vital networks by the crippling global ransomware, 'WannaCry', PTI reported.

"Everything seems to be normal so far. No reports have come to Cert-In. We have been in touch with Microsoft and others...even they have not got any reports," PTI quoted Sanjay Bahl, Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), director general.

He added that the Cyber Swachhta Kendra, the government's portal for information about cyber security is being updated on regular basis since Saturday.

WannaCry is a form of ransomware which will lock the files of your computer and encrypts them in a way that you cannot access them anymore. It is also known as also known as WanaCrypt0r 2.0, WannaCry and WCry. After encryption, it demands payment in bitcoin in order to regain access.

However, experts said that there is no guarantee that you'll get the access after paying the amount.