WannaCry: Holy water didn't save Russian government computers from ransomware

As the WannaCry ransomware attack continues to ravage computers across Eastern Europe and Asia, Russian social media is alight with jokes about how God hasn't been able to prevent malware from infecting Russian government computers.

In 2013, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, the supreme leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, made a formal visit to the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Moscow to conduct a religious ceremony to protect critical government computers from being infected by computer viruses.

An iconic photo captured the Patriarch blessing PCs in an operations room amid military personnel and other clerics.

Netizens decided to remind the internet about this incident, especially in light of the news that Russia's ministry of the interior was infected by the WannaCry cyberattack at the same time the malware was infecting the UK's National Health Service (NHS) hospitals and thousands of other computers across the world.

The ransomware's worm-like pattern of multiplying and quickly spreading across networks was first highlighted on 12 May, and while its effects were minimised by a kill switch accidentally discovered by a 22-year-old British cybersecurity researcher, individuals and companies are still battling the effects of the attack.

If you have been infected by WannaCry, you are advised not to pay the ransom as it won't make a difference, due to problems in how the hackers set up their payment claim system, which has caused a bottleneck.

As highlighted by American religious and spirituality discussion website Patheos, it is highly unlikely that the Russian government ever actually thought that His Holiness could make a difference to their cybersecurity efforts.

It is more likely that the religious leader, whose official title is 'Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia', read about the WannaCry cyberattack and expressed an interest to perform a blessing, and due to his high rank and respect in the country, the government agency decided to let him go ahead. But it's still really funny.