A cyber criminal

North Korea was responsible for a massive global cyberattack in May that affected some 150 countries, the U.S. said on Tuesday.

“After careful investigation, the U.S. is attributing the `Wannacry’ attack to North Korea,” White House Homeland Security Adviser, Tom Bossert said at a briefing.

He described an arduous process by U.S. security agencies to trace Wannacry, which eventually confirmed that the attack was “directed by the government of North Korea” in part through intermediaries that have carried out previous attacks on behalf of Pyongyang.

The “ransomware’’ attack exploited vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows; the world’s most widely used operating system.

Bossert accused North Korea of a pattern of escalating online attacks dating back more than a decade.

“This malicious behaviour is growing more egregious,’’ he said.
Bossert called for a worldwide effort to hold North Korea’s regime accountable for such actions, as well as better international cooperation on cybersecurity.

“The U.S. will lead this effort.

“Quick actions by Microsoft, Facebook and other technology companies helped disrupt the North Korean hackers, and a U.S,-based programmer discovered and shared a so-called kill switch in the Wannacry virus, helping slow its spread.

“Next time, we’re not going to get so lucky.

“Though designed as ransomware, victims, who paid to unlock their crippled computers, received no relief, so the attack netted little money.

“This was a reckless attack, and it was meant to cause havoc and destruction,’’ Bossert said. (dpa/NAN)