Tirupati falls prey to WannaCry cyber attack, safety of richest temple at risk

The ransomware virus breached through 30 computers at TTD on Wednesday Temple officials have said that only systems running on old operating systems have been affected Earlier, similar incidents were reported from various parts of Andhra Pradesh

Computers at the Tirupati temple office have been fallen prey to the ‘WannaCry’ ransomware cyber attack. The dreaded virus has made its way into at least 30 computers putting the safety networks at risk.

The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams popularly known as TTD is one of the richest shrines in India and is known for security measures as thousands of people visit the temple daily. The ransomware virus breached through 30 computers at TTD on Wednesday.

But the authorities of the temple have said that the virus has only attacked the computers running on old version of operating system. Speaking to Hindustan Times, TTD official T Ravi said, "All these systems belong to the administration wing of TTD and were attended to by the engineers of the IT Department immediately.”

Sources said that the pilgrim services of the temple were not affected as the virus did not have any impact on the hardware or software related to these services. There was no problem in booking tokens for Darshan, giving receipts or making offerings.

As soon as the virus was identified the computers were disconnected. All measures were taken to disable the virus before it breaks the firewall and corrupts the systems.

The officials also have told that they have loaded the patches released by Microsoft for protection of the systems.