Why is China home to half of the computers hit by WannaCry ransomware?

China commonly use pirated or outdated versions of Windows and thus do not receive security updates

China is one of the countries that has been hit hardest by the ransomware program known as “WannaCry” launched on 12 May, which infected over 230,000 computers in 99 countries in just one day.

China's National Computer Network Emergency Response Center has confirmed that by 14 May, half of the infected IPs were located in China. The attacks have affected about 30,000 institutions, including universities, immigration checkpoints and oil stations.

The ransomware, which is believed to exploit the “Eternal Blue” loophole developed by the US National Security Agency (NSA), attacks computers running Microsoft Windows operating systems and locks users out of their