The The Reserve Bank of India has asked banks to follow the instructions of government organisation CERT-In to prevent attack by ransomware, ‘WannaCry’, which has impacted various IT networks in over 150 countries.

Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) has come out with a list of dos and don’ts and a webcast on how to protect networks from the global ransomware attack.

It has been reported that a new ransomware ‘WannaCry’ is spreading widely, the RBI advisory to the banks said.

Wannacry encrypts the files on infected Windows systems and spreads by exploiting vulnerabilities, it said.

The RBI has also asked all banks to put in place a software update at ATMs to prevent their systems fromamalware that has attacked payment systems across the world.

In a separate malware attack last year, 3.2 lakh debit cards were compromised in the country. Data of the users who transacted from ATM machines of Hitachi were compromised during three months of May, June and July last year. The Hitachi ATMs deployed bymany white-label ATM players and YES Bank were impacted by the malware.

According to reports, ATMs are highly vulnerable to such malware attacks as they currently run on old version of Microsoft’s Windows operating system, making a software security patch update a necessary exercise.

There are a total of 2.2 lakh ATMsin India, of which,many old ones run on Windows XP.

Over the weekend, the ransomware has hit systems in more than 150 countries, including Russia and the UK, in one of the most widespread cyber attacks in history. It infected computers running on older versions of Microsoft operating systems like XP, locking access to files on the computer.

The cyber criminals have demanded a fee of about $300 in crypto-currencies like Bitcoin for unlocking the device.

Microsoft has introduced a security patch to tackle the situation, and consumers across the globe have been advised to download the solution at the earliest. CERT-In today said it has not received any formal report of cyber attack on India’s vital networks by the crippling global ransomware.

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