Shortly after the first attacks, Microsoft announced that computers with all the latest Windows updates installed and a basic anti-virus software are safe against the "WannaCry" ransomware.

The president of Microsoft slammed the National Security Agency (NSA) for its role in the ongoing global malware attack, saying it was "yet another example of why the stockpiling of vulnerabilities by governments is such a problem". This exploit was leaked by a hacker group called the Shadow Brokers earlier this year but the vulnerability was patched by Microsoft as soon as it happened. Criminals used the NSA's leaked EternalBlue vulnerability to attack Windows machines with WannaCry ransomware.

Smith compared an equivalent scenario as the USA military having some of its Tomahawk missiles stolen.

"A lot has changed in the world just in the last 12 months", Smith says.

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It's an invisible and unstoppable attack, and the kind Congressman Ruppersberger has fought in congress for more than a decade and is backing legislation to unite businesses and government agencies against hackers. "We are expecting it and have informed the banks since most of our ATMs run on the windows operating system which is the operating system affected by WannaCry", Subhamangala added.

In short, WannaCryptor is one of the biggest threats that both end users and companies have had to face recently.

According to him, Microsoft will assess the WannaCrypt ransomware attack, apply the lessons from it to strengthen its capabilities, and shares the lessons with law enforcement agencies, governments, and customers worldwide. "They need to take a different approach and adhere in cyberspace to the same rules applied to weapons in the physical world".

"We need governments to consider the damage to civilians that comes from hoarding these vulnerabilities and the use of these exploits", Microsoft concluded.

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"This is one reason we called in February for a new "Digital Geneva Convention" to govern these issues, including a new requirement for governments to report vulnerabilities to vendors, rather than stockpile, sell, or exploit them", he continued.

WannaCry helps illustrate the importance of governments cooperating with the private sector and the security industry to protect users.

Europe's cross-border police agency chief Rob Wainwright said the attack was "unprecedented" and they are working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to identify those behind the malware who are now unknown. On the plus side this outbreak does have people patching, so we have that going for us.

Experts say the spread of the virus had been stymied by a security researcher in the United Kingdom hackers have issued new versions of the virus that cyber security organizations are actively trying to counter and stamp out.

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