The Makers Of WannaCry Haven’t Made Much Money

May 15, 2017 in Daily Bulletin

The WannaCry bug encrypts users’ files and demands a Bitcoin ransom in return for the unlock key. Only those that have disabled security updates are vulnerable to it. Rhett Jones looked into the earnings of the perpetrators:

  • One expert used publicly available Bitcoin data to estimate that WannaCry’s creators had made just $26,000.
  • There is evidence that some users may even have negotiated down the original asking ransom price of $300.
  • The bug threatens to double prices if users don’t immediately pay the ransom so it’s possible earnings will jump.
  • Analysis done in 2012 indicated that approximately 3% of people pay up when hit with ransomware attacks.

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