Wanna Cry!

All about the Ransom ware that has been keeping everyone on their toes

Much like the plot of a sci-fi cyber-crime movie, the world woke up to a rude shock on May 12^th when a malware crippled the operations of big organizations and corporations by hacking into their computers and locking them out of their own data unless they paid a ransom of $300 (over Rs. 19000). The particular malware, aptly titled ‘Ransomware’  is named WANNACRY and was created by hackers after they got their hands on a treasure trove of super secretive cyber- attack tools from USA’ s National Security Agency last month. The cyber-attack has hit more than 2,00,000 computers in 150 countries, and over $50000 have been paid so far, according to a cyber-company.

HOW IT WORKS

Wannacry users can get infected by malware either by clicking or downloading malicious files, which then locks files on the computer and encrypts them in such a way that the user cannot access them anymore. A pop-up window appears with instructions on how to pay a ransom amount of $300 that too only in the form of Bit coins – the most popular form of crypto currency that’s hard to trace. The pop-up also features two countdown clocks; one showing a three-day deadline before the ransom amount doubles to $600 and another showing a deadline of when the target will lose its data forever.

The malware only affects Microsoft’s Windows Operating System, exploiting vulnerability in it. The infections are deployed via a worm, spreading itself within a network rather than relying on humans to spread it by clicking on an infected attachment.    

HARDEST HIT

The cyber-attack has not spared anyone – governments, hospitals and major companies are still battling it. Among the organizations affected by it, the major ones include UK’s National Health Service, Spanish Telecommunications operator Telefonica, Germany’s rail network Deutsche Bahn, US Logistics Giant FedEx and Russia’s Interior ministry. Those that were partially affected include universities in China, companies in Japan, France and Australia and hospitals in Indonesia. In India, the police computer systems in Andhra Pradesh and some companies in Bengaluru, Mumbai and Hyderabad were hit.

THE INADVERTENT HERO

The cyberattacks have slowed down, thanks to the brilliance of 22-year old British Security Researcher, Marcus Hutchins. While investigating the attack, he noticed that the malware was trying to contact a specific web address each time it infected a new computer, and that the web address it is trying to contact had not been registered. So, Marcus registered it by buying it for $10.69. By owning it, he was not only able to see where computers were accessing the ransomware from, but it also triggered part of the ransomware’s code – a kill switch- that stopped it from spreading. The kill switch is basically a code used by the attackers to halt the spread of their software if the things start to get out of hand.

According to him, this attack could be prevented and further said that Microsoft should not be held responsible for this. A month prior to this, Microsoft had released a free patch- an update that is designed to strengthen security vulnerabilities to counter the exact weakness that the ransomware is exploiting. Users who had their systems up to date were safe; it was only the ones who hadn’t installed it that suffered.

FAR FROM OVER

While the identity of the attackers remains unknown, the attacks have slowed down, thanks to Marcus. Security experts around the world are still wary about it. Besides, the registration of the web address does not repair computers which are already infected. The cyber-attack has also reignited the debate over whether or not governments should disclose vulnerabilities they discover, instead of stockpiling them and using them to their advantage as and when it is needed.

The Insane popularity of Ortega’s

Amancio Ortega, the Spanish retail genius who started Zara, passed Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates to become the richest man in the world in October 2015, but Gates reclaimed the title on next morning.

The 79-year-old Owner of Zara Amancio Ortega had moved from the Second richest person in the world to the Richest person in the World, Surpassing Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, who has a net worth of $79.2 billion; however, the victory was short-lived.

Amancio Ortega was the son of a railway worker from Spain, Ortega is as reclusive as he is rich. He started his career as a store clerk in his hometown before opening his own business. Beginning with less than $100.

In 1975, he opened his first Zara store, unlike most retailers, Zara hardly relies on advertising. Ortega’s companies could keep up with the whims of shoppers much more easily than its competitors — and also had to spend less on warehousing.

Zara didn’t have to invent a brand-new product to become the world’s biggest fashion retailer. It just had to invent a new process. And process innovation is dominating the global economy. Ortega has instead devoted most of his resources into turning his company into the most efficient retailing operation in the world.

If we divide the fashion retailers into two categories, fashion leaders and fashion followers, Zara is definitely the latter. here is huge risk associated with being a fashion leader. Because, there is a huge gamble involved.

Zara on the other hand build upon what is already in fashion.

Ortega has unique Business Model, where all the retailers were moving the production to china to cut the cost but Zara kept most of the Manufacturing close to Home base.

Because, that allowed Zara to react quickly to trends and get product in stores right away. The cycle time of production of Zara is unmatchable and only a few Japanese players were able to match it.

Zara carries a very low inventory as compared to other brands say like Benetton or H&M. Because, fashion industry is very sensitive to trends. No one knows what is going to be the next big thing in the industry.

Zara, the world’s largest fashion retailer, has an innovative solution to both the style problem and the marketing problem,

Rather than hire world-class designers, Zara, politely copies them. Then for Marketing it relies on a global network of shopper-feedback to tweak their designs. Zara spends very less on advertisement, only 3% of their revenue. That is 10 times lower than others.

When companies like Gap and H&M were taking five months to design, make, distribute and sell new products in the early 2000s, Zara was doing it in three weeks.

Ortega took the business public in 2001 and debuted on the Forbes billionaires list the same year, with a net worth of $6.6 billion. By then, Gates was already the richest man in the world, with a fortune of $58.7 billion.

 Where from 2001 to 2002, as most billionaires struggled to hold onto their riches amid the dot-com crash, Ortega gained an additional $2.5 billion and became the world’s 25th-richest man.

He repeated the trick seven years later, when the world plunged into crisis. From 2009 to 2013, while the Spanish economy was reeling, Ortega personally gained $39 billion.

Ortega briefly took the title of world’s richest man for the first time in October 2015, when Inditex shares hit an all-time high and boosted Ortega’s net worth to $80 billion. But the stock quickly dipped, and Gates once again took the throne.

The two billionaires will likely continue to exchange the title as the stock prices of their holdings continue to bounce up and down.

The one trait that has overwhelmingly driven his present success is the fact that the man has not taken a single holiday in 25 years.