China’s National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center (VERC) on May 18 officially announced that a new  UIWIX ransomware has been detected abroad. The virus has not yet been found in China, but VERC suggested that all Windows users install patches and remain alert.

According to VERC, the new virus was detected at 6 p.m. on May 18 (Beijing time). Like the notorious WannaCry, UIWIX utilizes the same Server Message Block (SMB) vulnerabilities (MS17-010) to infect users’ computers. It encrypts users’ files and then renames them. As of press time, VERC is doing analysis and research on the new virus, and has not yet received any reports of UIWIX contamination from domestic users.

The emergence of the new virus is the most recent case of ransomware infecting computer systems worldwide. On May 12, a ransomware named WannaCry allegedly infected more than 230,000 computers in over 150 countries.