Armenian IT experts help Russian colleagues stop WannaCry cyberattack

The head of Russia’s top national security agency has thanked Armenian IT engineers for an essential contribution to preventing the spread of the WannaCry ransomware accross the computer systems in the country.

In his speech at the XVI international forum of intelligence, security and law enforcement officers, Director of the Federal Security Service (FSB) Alexander Bortnikov said the Armenian specialists helped effectively neutralize the consequences of the malware, Rusarminfo.ru reports.

"Thanks to the collaboration with Armenian colleagues, it was possible to prevent WannaCry from penetrating into the networks of several major banks,” he said.

The worldwide cyberattack hit computer networks on May 12 2017, affecting over 200,000 users in 150 countries. In Russia, which was among the major selected targets, the virus hit mainly financial institutions' software systems.