STE WILLIAMS

The Foreign Office Minister Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon has confirmed North Korea was behind the WannaCry ransomware incident.

In a statement today he said the hermit state’s spy unit, the Lazarus Group, was behind the attack. The group, which also goes by the name Guardians of Peace, has been active since 2009 and uses DDoS botnets, keyloggers, remote access tools and wiper malware in their activities.

The decision to publicly attribute this incident sends a clear message that the UK and its allies will not tolerate malicious cyber activity, the Foreign Office said.

The WannaCry ransomware incident affected 300,000 computers in 150 countries and included 48 NHS trusts among the casualties.

Back in October, security minister Ben Wallace appeared to blame North Korea for the infamous ransomware attack that disrupted the operation of one in three NHS trusts in England as well as numerous other organisations worldwide.

Ahmad said: “The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre assesses it is highly likely that North Korean actors known as the Lazarus Group were behind the WannaCry ransomware campaign – one of the most significant to hit the UK in terms of scale and disruption.

“We condemn these actions and commit ourselves to working with all responsible states to combat destructive criminal use of cyber space. The indiscriminate use of the WannaCry ransomware demonstrates North Korean actors using their cyber programme to circumvent sanctions.”

He said the UK is determined to identify, pursue and respond to malicious cyber activity regardless of where it originates, imposing costs on those who wish to attack us in cyberspace. “We are committed to strengthening coordinated international efforts to uphold a free, open, peaceful and secure cyberspace.” ®

Article source: http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2017/12/19/fco_confirms_north_korea_behind_wannacry/