You may remember that last month, a ransomware attack by the name of WannaCry affected tens of millions of PCs across the globe. It crippled computer systems across Europe, the Americas, Russia, and even China. More than 300,000 machines are believed to have been affected by WannaCry. While no hacking collective has claimed to be behind this massive attack, a report cites sources within British Intelligence claiming that there’s evidence to support the theory that this attack was launched by North Korea.
ZDNet reports, citing sources familiar with the matter, that British security services believe that the WannaCry ransomware attack was launched by hackers in North Korea. When contacted by the scribe, a spokesperson for the NCSC said that it could not confirm or deny the report.
This has reportedly been concluded following an investigation by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), the cybersecurity division of the British Intelligence establishment. It believes that North Korean hacking operation the Lazarus Group is behind the attack.
The report that British Intelligence believes that North Korea might have played a part in this global cyberattack follows recent reports which suggested that intelligence officials in the United States have reached a similar conclusion. That’s believed to be “moderate confidence” in the country’s intelligence establishment that the attack was mounted from North Korea.
It’s not clear what motive the country or hackers working for it could have had for mounting this cyberattack, if it really did originate from the world’s most isolated country. It’s not like North Korea is ever going to come out and accept it if it was indeed behind this cyberattack.
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