North Korea Blamed for WannaCry Cyber Attack

Breaking news has revealed that both US and UK governments are placing the blame on North Korea for being behind the WannaCry ransomware attack that caused global disruption. The malware affected hospitals, businesses and banks and is thought to have hit over 300,000 computers across 150 nations.

Tim Erlin, VP of Product Management and Strategy at Tripwire, said: "Accurate attribution for cyber attacks is almost always a difficult task, and it’s doubly so when the evidence leading to the conclusion can’t be shared. With global public trust in the US government at a low point, it’s not surprising that there’s skepticism.

"If we’re going to have national security organizations delivering these types of conclusions on attribution to the public, we need to find a way to develop trusted output. The mantra of ‘trust us’ doesn’t cut it here.

"This conclusion about North Korea’s culpability isn’t new. The UK discussed the very same conclusion in October, with the very same caveats about sharing the actual evidence. You can’t arrest a nation-state, which inevitably prevents any real closure on an incident like WannaCry.

"Whether North Korea is the threat actor or not doesn’t change the lessons that organizations should take from this incident. These vulnerabilities are out there, and WannaCry demonstrated what can happen when the right condition is exploited. Defensive response should be to reduce the risk as much as possible."