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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

UK blames North Korea for WannaCry attacks [thehill.com]

The United Kingdom released its final report Friday on the WannaCry ransomware attacks that caused mass disruption in its hospital system, with a U.K. official saying the country believes the attacks originated in North Korea.

"This attack, we believe quite strongly that it came from a foreign state," Ben Wallace, a junior minister for security, told BBC 4 Radio, adding that the government was "as sure as possible" that nation was North Korea.

NHS 'could have prevented' WannaCry ransomware attack [bbc.com]

The report said NHS trusts had not acted on critical alerts from NHS Digital and a warning from the Department of Health and the Cabinet Office in 2014 to patch or migrate away from vulnerable older software.

The Department of Health also lacked important information, the report said. "Before 12 May 2017, the department had no formal mechanism for assessing whether NHS organisations had complied with its advice and guidance."

Organisations could also have better managed their computers' firewalls - but in many cases they did not, it said.

NHS organisations have not reported any cases of harm to patients or of their data being stolen as a result of WannaCry.

Also at NPR [npr.org].

Original Submission