US, Canada issue joint alert on 'ransomware' after hospital attacks

The United States and Canada issued a rare joint cyber alert, warning against a recent surge in extortion attacks that infect computers with viruses known as "ransomware," which encrypt data and demand payments for it to be unlocked. The warning follows reports from several private security firms that they expect the crisis to worsen, because hackers are getting more sophisticated and few businesses have adopted proper security measures to thwart such attacks. "Infections can be devastating to an individual or organization, and recovery can be a difficult process that may require the services of a reputable data recovery specialist," the two governments said in the alert, distributed by the US Department of Homeland Security and the Canadian Cyber Incident Response Centre. It comes in the wake of reports of a string of ransomware attacks on individuals, businesses and government agencies in the past few months, including some that interrupted services at US hospitals and police departments.

Recently, the Federal Bureau of Investigation issued a private alert to US businesses, seeking their help in its investigation into the attacks. March 30's alert said the consequences of ransomware attacks include loss of sensitive or proprietary information, disruption of regular operations, expenses to restore access to computer systems and harm to a victim's reputation. The governments discouraged victims from paying hackers to restore access to their data.