The largest ransomware attack was recorded on Friday 12th May where it affected at least 57,000 computers in 100+ countries. The cyber-attack was believed to have used hacking tools stolen from US National Security Agency (NSA) that infected the computers.
The WannaCry Ransomware is a malicious software that gets access to your computer, encrypts your data, and asks for money to unlock your information. On Friday, the cyber-extortionist tricked its victims in to opening emails that contained malicious malware.
The ransomware then encrypts your data and demands a payment of US$300-US$600 to restore access. The top targets were the countries including Russia, Ukraine, Taiwan, and Britain. Hospitals and clinics were the main targets in Britain where they were forced to turn away patients due to losing access to data on their computers.
The disruptive cyber-attack may not be a good news for Kodi users as it leaves their Kodi software with advertisements that prevent them from streaming media content. Even when Kodi was previously hit by a Teslacrypt 3.0 infection back in 2012, its developers were warned about security issues. This certainly exposed security vulnerabilities on Kodi and therefore created a security add-on.
Kodi hold its users of being responsible for the ins and outs of their Kodi installation. Although Kodi does provides regular information on how to secure Kodi from external threats, but new and regular users often neglect these tutorials.
The ransomware that hit Kodi users recently encrypted all the files to .micro, .xxx, and .ttt. It is difficult to decrypt or recover the files because it uses a different algorithm and key storage to recover the data. Hence, Kodi users can see their data go down the drain.
Unless, Microsoft posted a fix for its vulnerability from malware back in March. However, many organizations failed to update their system and were using the older versions of Microsoft Windows which did a lot of damage to their computers.
Alongside switching to the newer version of Microsoft Windows, Kodi users are also required to update their Kodi to Krypton version 17.
It is expected that the global ransomware attack will soon spring back to life again with another attack. So, it is recommended that Kodi users must equip themselves with the recommended security and must get ready because the second wave is about to come.
View Comments (4)
I am amazed at the level of technical nonsense you have written here. Kodi systems are not vulnerable, Windows systems are vulnerable. The vulnerability is in no way associated with Kodi.
Firstly, Kodi software highly relies on third-party add-ons which instantly conflicts with your statement regarding 'Kodi systems are not vulnerable'. Relying on third-party add-ons is in itself a vulnerability which may attract a lot of malwares including ransomware that Kodi users may not be aware of while installing them. Kodi management itself spread awareness to its users regarding installation of reliable Kodi add-ons. Hope it answers your question.
What are you talking about? This has absolutely nothing to do with Kodi. Nada. Zilch.
The malware hits the underlying OS - meaning XP or an unpatched Windows installation of a later vintage. Implying that it's somehow up to the Kodi developers to defend the OS is just a huge misunderstanding of... well, everything to do with how computers work, really.
And to add the final piece - nope, trying a different version of Kodi won't change anything either. Did I mention that it's the operating system and not the application? Sure I did...
The malware (WannaCry Ransomeware) affects everything that is present on your operating system including Kodi software and every add-on that you have installed on the software. Ransomware serves the exact purpose of encrypting all the files that are present on your computer and charge a ransom accordingly for decrypting your data. Although you are right with the fact that it affects the operating system and not the application, but it wouldn't be incorrect saying that ransomware infects every file that is present on your computer including Kodi.