Ethiopian infrastructures affected in global cyber attack

Ethiopian telecommunications, financial institutions, electronic companies, industries, and hospitals are among infrastructure targets affected by a computer virus called "WannaCry."

The Ethiopia Information Network Security Agency (INSA) the government body mandated with protecting Ethiopia's Information Technology (IT) infrastructure warned institutions who use Windows operating system to guard against the virus, with system update given as one solution against the dangers of the "WannaCry" Virus.

The Agency further asked institutions to contact its offices through a local number 933 or through its email address ethiocert@insa.gov.et to access information that will guard against the virus.

However, INSA didn't disclose the damage sustained by infrastructures affected by the computer virus.

The "Wannacry" virus has reportedly affected at least 200,000 victims in 150 countries, catching countries and institutions off guard with the sheer geographical spread.

Dawit Kiros, a software developer at a local firm Cybersoft told Xinhua that Ethiopia's vulnerability to ransom heist by the virus is low because the virus uses digital currency bitcoin unrecognized in Ethiopia to extort money from affected countries and institutions.

He, however, cautioned Ethiopia to upgrade its low cyber security capacity, in order not to be blackmailed by private or state entities with stolen data from its IT infrastructure that could be obtained by viruses like "WannaCry." Endit