UPSC Prelims 2018 question on Wannacry Petya Cyber Attacks

Analysis

These terms relate to cyber attacks, so the answer is (c).

The WannaCry ransomware attack of May 2017 was a worldwide cyberattack by a ransomware cryptoworm targeting computers running Microsoft Windows, encrypting data and demanding ransom payments in Bitcoin. It propagated through EternalBlue, an exploit in older Windows systems released by The Shadow Brokers a few months before the attack. Petya is a family of encrypting ransomware first discovered in 2016, which infects the master boot record and encrypts the hard drive's file system table, preventing Windows from booting, and likewise demands payment in Bitcoin.

Option (b) is the closest distractor precisely because the ransoms were demanded in Bitcoin, so cryptocurrency is genuinely associated with these events, but the terms name malware and an exploit, not currencies.