Cyber Firms Say Looking at Possible North Korea Tie to Ransomware Attack

“The recent attack is at an unprecedented level and will require a complex global investigation to identify the culprits”, Europol’s European Cybercrime Center says. Then, just as quickly as it started, the attack was stalled by a 22-year-old British cybersecurity researcher who discovered a “kill switch” that stopped the ransomware from spreading. Kaspersky said “further research can be crucial to connecting the dots”.

However, officials and security firms said the spread was starting to slow in the country, which has the world’s largest number of internet users.

The head of Turkey’s Information and Communication Technologies Authority or BTK says the nation was among those affected by the ransomware attack.

In a statement to IBTimes UK, Symantec said: “Over the weekend, we began investigating connections of WannaCry to known groups we are monitoring”.

He says this order will help the government stay more secure.

Microsoft blamed the US government for “stockpiling” software code that was used by unknown hackers to launch the attacks.

According to the Australian governments cyber-security minister Dan Tehan, “there has been one incident of the ransomware hitting a business here in Australia and there could be two other incidents where it has occurred, although we are trying to confirm that”.

The attack infected 300,000 machines in 150 countries, said Tom Bossert, US President Donald Trump’s homeland security adviser.

Chon also warned it can be easy for attribution to be given because it’s the simplest possible solution, even if the evidence isn’t totally there.

Microsoft released a security patch for the vulnerabilities in March.

Micrsoft’s top lawyer has criticized USA intelligence for “stockpiling” software code that can aid hackers.

If you don’t want to line the pockets of criminals, experts suggest that you hold onto the scrambled files in case researchers manage to crack the encryption at some point in the future. Bossert says the US hasn’t ruled out involvement by a foreign government, but that the recent ransom demands suggest a criminal network.

More than 150 countries have been affected by WannaCry with almost 200,000 cases reported.

Users who do not patch their systems and the Shadow Brokers were more directly responsible for the attack than NSA, they said.

But few major problems were reported.

Multiple government agencies are committed to tracking down the perpetrators.

In the United Kingdom, hospitals were crippled by the cyberattack, which forced operations to be canceled and ambulances to be diverted.

Elsewhere, Britain said seven of the 47 trusts that run its national health care system were still affected, with some surgeries and outpatient appointments canceled as a result.

Carmaker Renault said one of its French plants, which employs 3,500 people, wasn’t reopening Monday as a “preventative step”.

Germany’s national railway said Saturday that departure and arrival display screens at its stations were affected, but there was no impact on actual train services. But how much do individuals need to worry about their personal computers being targeted?

“In India, no reports have been formally received so far regarding this ransomware attack”. “Otherwise they’re literally fighting the problems of the present with tools from the past”.

In Japan, 2,000 computers at 600 locations were reported to have been affected.

“The numbers are still going up”, Wainwright said. He says Chinese security companies have been offering their help.

Download the Nigeria Today app from Play store. Its movie ticket systems were unaffected.

But by May 15, the fast-spreading extortion scheme was waning.

The global “ransomware” attack, also known as WannaCry had programs previously attributed to North Korea, the computer security firms said.

Instead of having to develop their own arsenals of cyberweapons, they simply had to repurpose work done by the highly skilled cyber experts at the NSA, said Phillip Hallam-Baker, principal scientist at the cybersecurity firm Comodo.

Malaysia is placed 11th (with No. 1 as the most vulnerable), with a 27.6 per cent malware reported rate, higher than the worldwide average of 20.8 per cent.