Microsoft: North Korea to blame for WannaCry attacks

Julie Spitzer -

North Korea was behind the WannaCry ransomware attacks, which infected more than 300,000 devices in more than 150 countries in May, claimed Brad Smith, the president of Microsoft, according to The Telegraph.

In June, the National Security Agency linked the North Korean government to the attacks, claiming it had "moderate confidence" that the country's spy agency, Reconnaissance General Bureau, was responsible for two versions of WannaCry.

Now, Mr. Smith told The Telegraph he had "great confidence" Pyongyang was behind the attack and the RGB stole cyber weapons from the NSA to carry it out.

"I think at this point that all observers in the know have concluded that WannaCry was caused by North Korea using cyber tools or weapons that were stolen from the National Security Agency in the United States," he told The Telegraph.

Mr. Smith added that cyberattacks by nation-states have become more frequent and he called on governments to come together to face the threat.

"I think over last six months we've seen threats come to life, unfortunately, in new and more serious way. The problem has become bigger," he said, according to The Telegraph. "We need governments to come together as they did in Geneva in 1949 and adopt a new Digital Geneva Convention that makes clear that these cyber-attacks against civilians, especially in times of peace, are off-limits and a violation of international law." 

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