RIYADH – Saudi Telecom Co. (STC) has denied on Sunday that its systems were affected by WannaCry ransomware virus that has spread across 150 countries since Friday. It was responding to photos circulated on social media claiming to show infected STC computers. "The company clarifies that its networks and systems were not affected, and further that what was shown in the media relates to some personal devices which specialized technical teams will address," the Kingdom's s biggest telecoms operator said in a statement on Sunday. The photos on social media showed on Saturday desktop computers displaying the hallmark red window of the WannaCry virus that has locked up more than 200,000 computers worldwide. In one photo, multiple computers are shown displaying the red windows in what appears to be a large operations room with an STC logo visible in the background. Meanwhile, Yusri Zaki, an expert in information security, said that the cyber-attacks that hit over 75,000 computers worldwide are due to a ‘virus,' which was recently developed in the United States for fast and widespread hacking operations. He praised the preemptive and precautionary measures taken by the Kingdom that are helpful to employ alternative procedures if they are required.
