A French security expert has leveraged a flaw in the infamous WannaCry ransomware worm to develop a rescue tool for Windows XP victims.
After discovering the flaw, Adrien Guinet, who works with Paris-based security firm QuarksLab, released "WannaKey" on Github, according to a Wired report.
Guinet says the software works by pulling private key traces from a compromised Windows XP computer's memory to ultimately decrypt the hijacked files. Within 24 hours of the tool's release on Friday, French researchers Benjamin Delpy and Matt Suiche confirmed that they've adapted the tool to work on Windows 7.
On May 12, the WannaCry attacks impacted more than 200,000 organizations across the globe, with as many as 16 hospitals within the UK's National Health Service falling victim to the malware.