Ransomware attack hits 23 computers in Palakkad railway office

Palakkad (Kerala) May 16 (IANS) A day after the computers of four village panchayats in Kerala were hit 23 computers of the Railway Division office in Palakkad came under cyber attack on Tuesday.

A statement issued by the railway authorities here said that 23 out of the 500 computers were affected by the ransomware cyber attack. However it said the data on the affected computers had back up and were stored in printed files and hence there was no loss of data.

The cyber attack was noticed on 23 computers which flashed the message of asking money to be paid in bitcoins or warned the data would be lost forever. Since all the affected computers contained document files pertaining to the employees that have backed up files the data loss is only temporary said the statement.

It said the railways uses a different system for ticketing and other passenger related issues and cargo movements which have not been affected at all.

--IANS
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