As Deadline Begins to Pass, WannaCry Falls Short of Six Figures

One week ago a global cyberattack, dubbed “unprecedented“ by Europol, began infecting an estimated 200,000 of the world’s computers, starting a seven-day countdown to the destruction of data if victims didn’t pay a ransom, according to Bloomberg.

Today, those countdowns begin reaching zero. But so far, as of 13:00 in London, the attackers have claimed only about $92,000 in payments from their widespread ransom demands, according to Elliptic , a U.K-based company that tracks illicit use of bitcoin. The company calculates the total based on payments tracked to bitcoin addresses specified in the ransom demands.

The ransomware, called WannaCry, began infecting users on May 12 and gave them 72 hours to pay $300 in bitcoin or pay twice as much after that deadline. Refusal to pay after seven days was promised to result in the permanent loss of data via irrevocable encryption.

Witt affected institutions including the National Health Service., FedEx and PetroChina, few initially paid up, leading to speculation that organizations were taking their chances on fixing their corrupt machines before the ransom forced a mass deletion of critical data. A week later, experts agree the financial gains of the hackers remain astonishingly low.

While the world’s law enforcement is pointing its resources at trying to identify the culprits, Tom Robinson, chief operating officer and co-founder of Elliptic, says it’s unlikely the money taken from victims will be taken from the digital bitcoin wallets they’re being anonymously held in. “Given the amount of scrutiny this has come under, I would be surprised if they moved it anytime soon,“ he said. “I just don't think the risk is worth the $90,000 they've raised so far.“

Of course, the hack may have nothing to do with money at all. Any movement of funds from a bitcoin wallet would act as a valuable clue for law enforcement as to who is behind the attack. Preliminary finger-pointing has already targeted groups with suspected links to the North Korean regime, but clues are few are far between still.