Nearly every house in the Western world either owns or has use of or access to a computer. Computers are now ingrained within the infrastructure of our global economy and are the platform for the world governments and governance. Our financial structures are dependent on the computer systems throughout the various stock exchanges and also our medical infrastructure is equally dependent on computers.
On Friday 12th May 2017, 100,000 computers in approximately 99 countries were targeted by a ransom virus. They infected computer files and then demanded Bitcoins to unlock the computers. Bitcoins are anonymous money where each bit has a value of £1,000. The name of the owner is anonymous and the process is an electronic transaction that cannot be tracked.
The ransom, known as Wana Crypt02 2.0, or Wana cry, is believed to have affected NHS hospitals in the UK and Spains biggest telecommunications firm Telefonica and many other companies across the world. The virus is said to have attacked computers on an internal network without affecting the victim’s customers. It was reported by Reuters that the virus was an upgraded version of the ransom which appeared in February 2017 affecting only Windows operating systems, where it dropped a ransom demanding $300 worth of bit com to be paid to unlock the computer. The mere fact that the grand scale of this attack has crippled so many countries across the world demonstrates the magnitude and severity of this attack and the impact that it has had upon a world that has become solely dependent on computers.
It is almost incomprehensible how in such a short space of time we have become dependent on computers to govern our day to day lives, be it from the major network systems through to the handheld devices known as mobile phones.
Former President Of the USA John F Kennedy said ‘Man is still the most extraordinary computer of all.’ We were created by God in His image and in His likeness, for He knew exactly what was required. In Psalm 139:14 we read: ‘I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.’
While computers may be at the centre of our world, let us make God the centre of our life. There’s one thing for sure, He has never and will never fail us.