Picture used for illustrative purposes only.

Cyberattacks are becoming more and more widespread these days, becoming a major headache not only for the government concerned, but also a host of companies, organisations and people. In particular, ransomware attacks, where unscrupulous elements who want to make a quick buck encrypt the data of their targets and tell them they will unlock it if they pay up, have become the order of the day. Ransomware gangs extorted over $300 million last year.

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But in a new raid, the websites of hundreds of companies around the world were hacked. At least 200 American firms were affected. The hackers are demanding $70 million in payment, that too not in cash but in the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Hundreds of thousands of users in 17 countries have been hit in the process. The incident happened on Friday.

Attackers demanded payments in Bitcoin.

The demand was reported to have been posted by REvil, a gang linked to Russia.

The gang hacked into a Dublin-based IT company called Kaseya.

One Swedish grocery store chain was badly hit; it had to shutter hundreds of its outlets on Saturday.

It is just not companies that have been hit but even schools.

Last month, a Brazilian firm had to fork out $11 million for the hackers after its production suffered when its systems were hacked.