A Donegal County Councillor has urged the public to be cautious of so-called ‘phishing’ attempts after the weekend’s cyber attacks on thousands of PCs.
The call comes after hundreds of thousands of computers throughout the world were infected with a “Ransomware” virus.
The virus locked the systems and demanded that a ransom be paid or all files would be deleted.
Hundreds of HSE workers across the county still cannot send external emails as a result of the attack.
Speaking today, Cllr Gary Doherty said he has received numerous reports of people in Donegal having been contacted by persons claiming to be working for Microsoft and informing them that their PCs have been infected by the ‘ransomware’ virus.
“These callers are then offering to remove the virus from the PCs at a cost.
“Microsoft does not contact individual customers offering to clean their PCs. These calls are ‘phishing’ attempts, with the aim to direct unsuspecting Microsoft customers to a website where they can remotely access sensitive information stored on the PC, such as internet banking or credit card details. Under no circumstances should anyone follow the instructions of these callers.”
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