As if Covid wasn’t enough of a virus plague, a computer virus that’s been unleashed by the Russians against Ukraine indeed may kill your station’s computer network. Not only that, but it can and will scramble all your data and never give it back, even if you pay a steep ransom for it. This computer virus’ name is NotPetya.
Following in a succession of malware viruses created in Russia, NotPetya is one of the newest, most damaging widely-spread computer viruses. Untold numbers of companies have fallen victim to it, including FedEx, drug company Merk, and the Danish oceanic shipping giant, Maersk, which spent over three hundred million dollars ridding its systems of the NotPetya virus! NotPetya, by the way, got its name because there was a Petya virus, and NotPetya has some similarities, but is an upgraded, more powerful version.
Now the good news. There’s lots your IT department can do to minimize or prevent your computers from getting NotPetya, and they’re nearly all very simple, and either cheap or free!
First and foremost, computer users on your network should have their computer accounts running as “user” accounts, not as “administrator” accounts. NotPetya is spread from computer accounts that have administrator rights. Only your IT administrators should have administrator rights, and even they should have a regular “user” account for their day-to-day work, and an “administrator” account for the times when administrator privileges are required in order to make administrative computer or network changes.
You’ve heard this one before – keep all your computers up to date with current security patches. Ironically, NotPetya spreads, in part, by employing the Microsoft Windows EternalBlue exploit, which both the Russians and the Chinese learned how to invoke from a classified but leaked NSA exploit that our government used to spread covert computer programs onto enemy computers! A Microsoft patch that prevents EternalBlue was issued sometime back, but obviously only works if that patch has been installed!
Computer security folks worldwide expect the Russians will let loose another barrage of computer virus malware as part of Russia’s attempt to bring Ukraine back into the former Soviet extended sphere of influence. If (or perhaps when) that happens, any virus they release is certain to “leak” into computer systems world-wide, becoming a threat everywhere, including in your facility’s computer network!
Oh, yes, it carries a strong ransomware message. Your screen will light up with red letters on a black screen telling you where to send money in bitcoin. Don’t. The record indicates that the chances of getting your computer files back is “iffy” at best.
There are some other important protections your IT department should put in place if they’re not already set up for you. One of the most important is configuring your Windows machines so that they do not automatically reboot if they crash. NotPetya is fully activated upon a reboot following an infection. Disabling automatic reboot by Windows computers is a simple task for your IT folks.
Please resolve in 2022 to stay safe from viruses –both the variants of Covid and the variants of NotPetya and related. You’ll stay healthy, and so will your computers and your computer network!