Back in May, the New York Times reported that North Korea was believed to be responsible for the widespread Wannacry ransomware attack that shut down companies and crippled Britain’s National Health Service. Microsoft quickly released a patch for affected Windows systems, and the hackers didn’t make much bank, but the attack endangered lives, and now, the U.S. has confirmed that not only was Wannacry the product of a state-sponsored attack, but North Korea was indeed behind the code that shut down 230,000 global computers.
The attack was initially blamed on Russia, but Homeland Security (and Counterterrorism) Advisor Tom Bossert has laid the last bit of Kremlin-related speculation (on that note, at least) aside. He did so while penning a relentless op-ed in the Wall Street Journal:
We do not make this allegation lightly. It is based on evidence. We are not alone with our findings, either. Other governments and private companies agree. The United Kingdom attributes the attack to North Korea, and Microsoft traced the attack to cyber affiliates of the North Korean government.
North Korea has acted especially badly, largely unchecked, for more than a decade, and its malicious behavior is growing more egregious. WannaCry was indiscriminately reckless.
Bossert also vows, “Pyongyang will be held accountable.” Notably, he does not let Russia off the hook, either, while singling out the Kaspersky anti-virus software that may have served as a Trojan horse for Russian espionage. “A company that could bring data back to Russia represents an unacceptable risk on federal networks,” writes Bossert.
Of course, the next logical question about Wannacry is where the U.S. goes in terms of preventing similar future attacks. North Korea is already sanctioned into oblivion, and that hasn’t stopped Kim Jong-un’s regime from continuing missile and nuke tests. Bossert seems to realize that the defiant nation will continue regardless of punishment, so he asks the private sector to help find ways to thwart North Korea “and other bad actors the ability to launch reckless and destructive cyberattacks.” Will this work? No one knows for sure, but if one is looking for certainty, Kim Jong-un will remain vengeful no matter what.
(Via Wall Street Journal)