A new publicly available tool released on Friday allows users to decrypt their PCs infected with the WannaCry ransomware. Users without PCs running Windows 7, XP, and 2003 can use the tool to retrieve their data without paying the ransom to do so.
The tool, called wanakiwi, searches the memory of infected PCs to find the p and q variables that the ransomware key is based on and generates a finished, functioning key. The tool then uses the key to unlock all affected files affected by the WannaCry ransomware.
Users with infected PCs should not reboot their devices as this erases the values that the tool searches for. The developers of the tool do not guarantee that the tool will recover all locked files, stating that the victims of the ransomware still “need a good amount of luck.”