Govt agencies not hit by ransomware but some big firms were, PM says
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said on Monday that government agencies had not been affected by the global ransomware big, but a few big companies had.
Europol revealed that the WannaCry ransomware had affected 200,000 victims in 150 countries and described the cyberattack as “unprecedented”.
Following news of the cyberattack, Prayut said a lack of control could be dangerous.
“It’s necessary that we keep things under control. But I don’t mean that we are going to restrict people’s access to information,” he said. He also ordered all state agencies to be vigilant about the cyberattack, check for loopholes, update cybersecurity tools and educate officials.
Somsak Khaosuwan, deputy permanent secretary of the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, said if government computers were infected, the ministry would advise them to immediately shut down their systems and alert ThaiCERT – the national computer emergency response team.
State agencies had already backed up information on computer systems, so problems should not affect services if government computers become infected, Somsak said.
Organisations with infected computers can contact the Online Complaint Centre on 1212 or directly inform ThaiCERT at 02-123-1212, which is taking calls 24 hours a day.
Meanwhile, the Bank of Thailand has been alerted to watch for signs of WannaCry infections but spokespeople said there were no reports yesterday of bank computers in Thailand being affected.