200,000 cyberattack victims in 150-plus states

London : The unprecedented global ransomware cyberattack has hit more than 200,000 victims in more than 150 countries, Europol executive director Rob Wainwright said Sunday.

The head of the pan-European Union policing agency said that few had given in to the demands for payment to unblock files so far, but warned that the situation was escalating.

Wainwright said he was worried that the ransomware attack might spread further once people return to work on Monday and log on to their computers.

"We are running around 200 global operations against cyber crime each year but we've never seen anything like this," he told Britain's ITV television.

"The latest count is over 200,000 victims in at least 150 countries. Many of those victims will be businesses, including large corporations.

"The global reach is unprecedented."

He said the motivation remained unknown but ransomware attacks were normally "criminally minded".

"Remarkably few payments so far have been made, so most people are not paying this," Wainwright said.

"We're in the face of an escalating threat, the numbers are going up.

"I'm worried about how the numbers will continue to grow when people go to work and turn on their machines on Monday morning."