As it has been widely covered in the media by now, since Friday, May 12, 2017, the WannaCry Ransomware has affected a significant number of machines, effectively encrypting 176 file types and renaming them to  *.WCRY, asking for the equivalent of US 300 in bitcoins. The amount increases to double that after three days, complete with visual countdown indicator. After that the threat of file deletion after seven days. As researchers indicate decryption is not feasible, forcing the affected user to resort to backups.

The amount increases to double that after three days, complete with visual countdown indicator. After that, the threat of file deletion after seven days looms.

As researchers indicate, decryption is not feasible, forcing the affected user to resort to backups.

If the user does not have a current backup set, it might be possible to do a partial recovery, as files saved in locations other than the Desktop and My Documents are simply deleted and not wiped. Any undelete tool might be useful to successfully recover these files.

A special thank you to Symantec for the updated link:

https://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/what-you-need-know-about-wannacry-ransomware