Last Friday, the entire world was left astonished when all news headlines stated that a global cyber attack was launched by a group of hackers from North Korea affecting over 200,000 computers in over 150 nations. The ransomware attack targeted computers and digital networks operating in Russia, China, Japan, UK, France, US and Asia and affected banks, educational institutions, airlines, and some military networks.
This week started with media resources reporting the consequences faced by nations from the last week’s cyber attack.
So, here’s a summary of what has happened from the past 36 hours of this week and what may happen in coming days-
Technical analysts reviewing the hack on NHS suggest that North Korea’s hacking group was behind last week’s Wannacry ransomware cyber attack launched simultaneously in more than 150 countries. Lazarus Group which involved in the 2014 Sony attack that left its network offline for weeks is said to be behind the recently launched ransomware attack. Sources say that hackers succeeded in infecting over 200,000 computers in more than 150 countries and might also launch a Wannacry version 3.0 soon.
The White House reacted to the sharp criticism from media and tried its best to deflect the blame away from US Intelligence services. Tom Bossert, Homeland security advisory to President Donald Trump said that the tool which was developed by NSA did not have the capability to hold ransom data, but was just capable of exposing the vulnerabilities of Windows XP operating systems.
Due to last week’s cyber attack on NHS hospitals in Britain, patients who canceled their operations due to the attack may have to wait for more than 8 weeks to see the doctor and get operated.
British computer Geek Marcus Hutchins became a hero overnight as he prevented more than 100,000 computers from being infected by Wanna cry ransomware virus. The IT worker from Devon helped the law enforcement agency and NHS IT team neutralize the threat from Wanna cry by finding a website address within the virus’s code that acted as “Killswitch”. Marcus who was suspended from school for hacking the school’s website is now working with the government’s National Cyber Security Center to prevent a new strain of the malicious software which is about to emerge on Thursday this week. Marcus is now one of the world’s best paid ethical hacker as he has earned $600,000 in just a span of 16 months.
Walt Disney CEO BOB Iger said in a meeting yesterday that a Disney movie was held for ransom by a group of hackers. Bob said that the hackers took hold of the film from a post production company and are demanding a ransom to be paid in Bitcoins. As per our sources, the movie is an upcoming movie titled “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales” which was set to open in theaters from May 26, 2017. Though this hack has nothing to do with the global cyber attack, it is presently topping the chart of Google Trends.
National Security Advisor McMaster denied media reports which stated that US President Donald Trump leaked classified info to the Russians about ISIS laptop threat at the oval meeting held last week. He did admit the fact that the firing of FBI director James Comey coincided with the meeting and leakage rumors which were unfortunate.
