World braces for more cyberattacks as work week begins

Governments and computer experts girded on May 15 for a possible worsening of the global cyberattack that has hit more than 150 countries, as Microsoft warned against stockpiling vulnerabilities like the one at the heart of the crisis.

European policing and security agencies said the fallout from a ransomware attack that has already crippled more than 200,000 computers around the world could deepen as people return for another work week.     
The indiscriminate attack began on May 12 and struck banks, hospitals and government agencies, exploiting known vulnerabilities in older Microsoft computer operating systems.

U.S. package delivery giant FedEx, European car factories, Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica, Britain's health service and Germany's Deutsche Bahn rail network were among those hit.

In China, "hundreds of thousands" of computers at nearly 30,000 institutions and organizations were infected by late Saturday, according to Qihoo 360, one of China's largest providers of antivirus software.

Government agencies and universities were among those hit as well as petrol stations, ATMs and hospitals, it said.

Escalating threat 

Europol executive director Rob Wainwright said the situation could worsen on May 15 when workers return to their offices after the weekend and log on.

"We've never seen anything like this," the head of the European Union's policing agency told Britain's ITV television on May 14, calling its reach "unprecedented."

Wainwright described the cyberattack as an "escalating threat."

"I'm worried about how the numbers will continue to grow when people go to work and turn on their machines on Monday," he said.

The warning was echoed by...