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posted by on Tuesday May 23 2017, @11:34PM   Printer-friendly
from the dear-leader-wrote-it-himself-20-years-ago dept.

Symantec and FireEye have linked the recent WannaCry ransomware attacks to North Korea:

Cybersecurity researchers at Symantec Corp. and FireEye Inc. have uncovered more evidence tying this month's WannaCry global ransomware attacks to North Korea.

The cyberattack that infected hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide was "highly likely" to have originated with Lazarus, a hacking group linked to the reclusive state, Symantec said. The software used was virtually identical to versions employed in attacks earlier this year attributed to the same agency, the company said in a report late Monday. FireEye on Tuesday agreed WannaCry shared unique code with malware previously linked to North Korea. "The shared code likely means that, at a minimum, WannaCry operators share software development resources with North Korean espionage operators," Ben Read, a FireEye analyst, said in an emailed statement.

[...] The initial attack was stifled when a security researcher disabled a key mechanism used by the worm to spread, but experts said the hackers were likely to mount a second attack because so many users of personal computers with Microsoft operating systems couldn't or didn't download a security patch released in March labeled "critical."

Also at NYT, Reuters, Ars Technica, and The Hill. Symantec blog (appears scriptwalled).

Here's a screenshot of Wana Decrypt0r 2.0. Note the Wikipedia licensing section.

Previously: Security In 2017: Ransomware Will Remain King
"Biggest Ransomware Attack in History" Hits Around 100 Countries, Disrupts UK's NHS
WannaCrypt Ransomware Variant -- Lacking Kill Switch -- Seen in Wild [Updated]
Decryption Utility for WannaCry is Released


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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Wednesday May 24 2017, @04:09PM (2 children)

    by Jeremiah Cornelius (2785) on Wednesday May 24 2017, @04:09PM (#514888) Journal

    Conventional bombing and incendiaries - under the direction of Curtis LeMay - wiped out 20% of the civilian population of the Korean peninsula. This is a war crime, unfortunately not without parallel, but still in the greatest order of magnitude. The USA is no better than Stalin's USSR in this regard, other than ideological justification for the extermination of tens of millions of innocents.

    LeMay, you may note, was responsible for the incineration of the cultural, non-military targets of Dresden and Kyoto. The former made famous by Kurt Vonnegut in "Slaughterhouse 5". LeMay was the great villain of that novel, and portrayed accurately as unrepentant. His airwar was more reprehensible and criminal than Goering's. Yet he never saw a Nuremburg-style prosecution.

    When you see a US or UK flag, the proper response should be abject disgust.

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  • (Score: 2) by butthurt on Wednesday May 24 2017, @04:23PM (1 child)

    by butthurt (6141) on Wednesday May 24 2017, @04:23PM (#514905) Journal

    You may be thinking of Tokyo.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Tokyo_in_World_War_II [wikipedia.org]

    Kyoto was considered as an A-bomb recipient but lost out.

    https://www.quora.com/Is-it-true-that-Kyoto-Japan-was-nearly-bombed-in-WWII [quora.com]

    • (Score: 2) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Wednesday May 24 2017, @04:53PM

      by Jeremiah Cornelius (2785) on Wednesday May 24 2017, @04:53PM (#514935) Journal

      Yes, you're right. Tokyo. And Ira C Whittaker was LeMay's strategist, responsible for targets and methods in WWI.

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