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Ransomware hack of U.K. hospitals part of worldwide cyberattack

In a massive cyber attack, malicious software has infected more than 75,000 computers in 99 countries, including hospitals in England held hostage by ransomware.

By Robert Hutton, Jeremy Kahn, Jordan Robertson | Updated on May 12, 2017
The fast-spreading cyber attack forced British hospitals to turn away patients and breached systems at Spain’s Telefonica SA. (Photo: Getty)

(Bloomberg) — Extortionist hackers who may be using leaked computer exploits from the U.S. National Security Agency infiltrated computers in dozens of countries in a fast-spreading cyber attack that forced British hospitals to turn away patients and breached systems at Spain’s Telefonica SA and organizations from Russia to Taiwan.

The ransomware used in Friday’s cyber attacks encrypts files and demands that victims pay $300 in bitcoin for them to be decrypted, the latest in a vexing style of security breaches that, at the very least, forces organizations to revert to backup systems to keep critical systems running.

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