Ransomware attack contained: Bengal Minister

Kolkata, May 16 (IANS) The West Bengal government on Tuesday said it has been able to "contain" the ransomware attack, a day after a section of computers of the state's power distributor were hit by the global malware.

"We have seen that in Bengal the magnitude of the problem is not that serious. Our computers have been attacked but it was nothing very serious. We have contained the attacks," state Power Minister Shovandeb Chattopadhyay told the media here.

On Monday, of the 500 customer care centres of the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (WBSEDCL), around 30 centres fell prey to the malware "WannaCrypt" that crippled computers from hospitals in Britain to police stations in India, with hackers demanding hundreds of dollars from the users for them to regain control over their data.

"Only a few computer systems at these centres were attacked but it has not affected the services. Government has issued specific directives which are being followed. As of now, we are equipped to handle such cyber attack," he said.

The Minister claimed customer data is safe in the central server system.

Officials at WBSEDCL claimed there were no fresh attacks.

Kolkata Municipal Corporation mayor Sovan Chatterjee said there were attempts by hackers to steal money from his wife's bank account.

(This story has not been edited by Social News XYZ staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)