Security experts expressed alarm Friday over a fast-moving wave of cyberattacks around the world that appeared to exploit a flaw exposed in documents leaked from the US National Security Agency.

The attacks came in the form of ransomware, a technique used by hackers that locks a user's files unless they pay the attackers in bitcoin.

The scope of the attacks was not immediately clear, amid varying estimates from security researchers. But the malware was linked to attacks on hospitals in Britain as well as the Spanish telecom giant Telefonica and was also spreading in other countries.

The malware's name is WCry, but analysts were also using variants such as WannaCry, WanaCrypt0r, WannaCrypt, or Wana Decrypt0r.

Microsoft released a security patch earlier this year for the flaw, but many systems have yet to be updated, researchers said.

Researcher Costin Raiu of the Russian-based security firm Kaspersky said in a tweet, "So far, we have recorded more than 45,000 attacks of the #WannaCry ransomware in 74 countries around the world. Number still growing fast."

Jakub Kroustek of Avast said on Twitter the security firm had detected "36,000 detections of #WannaCry (aka #WanaCypt0r aka #WCry) #ransomware so far. Russia, Ukraine, and Taiwan leading. This is huge."

Kaspersky said the malware was released in April by a hacking group called Shadow Brokers which claimed to have discovered the flaw from the NSA.

In the United States the package delivery giant Fedex acknowledged it was hit by malware after one researcher cited the company as a target.

"Like many other companies, FedEx is experiencing interference with some of our Windows-based systems caused by malware," the company said in a statement.

"We are implementing remediation steps as quickly as possible."

Researcher finds 'kill switch' for cyberattack ransomeware
Hong Kong (AFP) May 13, 2017 - A cybersecurity researcher appears to have discovered a "kill switch" that can prevent the spread of the WannaCry ransomware -- for now -- that has caused the cyberattacks wreaking havoc globally, they told AFP Saturday.

The researcher, tweeting as @MalwareTechBlog, said the discovery was accidental, but that registering a domain name used by the malware stops it from spreading.

"Essentially they relied on a domain not being registered and by registering it, we stopped their malware spreading," @MalwareTechBlog told AFP in a private message on Twitter.

The researcher warned however that people "need to update their systems ASAP" to avoid attack.

"The crisis isn't over, they can always change the code and try again," @MalwareTechBlog said.

Friday's wave of cyberattacks, which affected dozens of countries, apparently exploited a flaw exposed in documents leaked from the US National Security Agency.

The attacks used a technique known as ransomware that locks users' files unless they pay the attackers a designated sum in the virtual currency Bitcoin.

Affected by the onslaught were computer networks at hospitals in Britain, Russia's interior ministry, the Spanish telecom giant Telefonica and the US delivery firm FedEx and many other organisations.

"I will confess that I was unaware registering the domain would stop the malware until after I registered it, so initially it was accidental," @MalwareTechBlog tweeted.

Unfortunately however, computers already affected will not be helped by the solution.

"So long as the domain isn't revoked, this particular strain will no longer cause harm, but patch your systems ASAP as they will try again."

The malware's name is WCry, but analysts were also using variants such as WannaCry.

Forcepoint Security Labs said in a Friday statement that the attack had "global scope" and was affecting networks in Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Mexico.

In the United States, FedEx acknowledged it had been hit by malware and was "implementing remediation steps as quickly as possible."

Also badly hit was Britain's National Health Service, which declared a "major incident" after the attack, which forced some hospitals to divert ambulances and scrap operations.

Pictures posted on social media showed screens of NHS computers with images demanding payment of $300 (275 euros) in Bitcoin, saying: "Ooops, your files have been encrypted!"

It demands payment in three days or the price is doubled, and if none is received in seven days, the files will be deleted, according to the screen message.

A hacking group called Shadow Brokers released the malware in April claiming to have discovered the flaw from the NSA, according to Kaspersky Lab, a Russian cybersecurity provider.

Kaspersky researcher Costin Raiu cited 45,000 attacks in 74 countries as of Friday evening.

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