North Korea under fire for alleged global cyberattack
Experts believe the cyberattack, dubbed "Wanna Cry," was carried out by North Korean hackers. The ransomware has so far disabled hundreds of thousands of computers in 150 countries, including Iran.
The "WanaCry" cyber attack, which has disabled more than 300,000 computers worldwide since May 12, is at the top of cyber news.
Experts from the security companies Symantec in the US and Kaspersky in Russia have examined some of the code of this virus or "ransomware" and have concluded that some of this code was also present in previous viruses from the Lazarus hacker group.
Google expert Neil Neta has also published code on the Internet that clearly shows the similarity between "Wanna Cry" and cyberattacks by North Korean hackers.
Internet security experts have identified Lazarus as being headquartered in North Korea. The country's representative to the United Nations has yet to comment on the matter.
A cyberattack on Sony in 2014 and the theft of part of the money from the Bangladesh Central Bank in 2016 were attributed to "Lazarus".
WannaCry is capable of encrypting and disabling computers. Cyber attackers extort money from their victims to break the code, which is why this virus is called "ransomware."
According to American officials, about $70,000 in ransom has been paid so far, but despite this, no computer has been freed from the scourge of WannaCry.
According to some reports, the main target of this "ransomware" is the computer networks of large companies and government agencies.
“Wanna Cry” in Iran
According to Iranian news websites, this very dangerous virus has also infiltrated some Iranian computers.
It is said that more than 2,000 cases of WannaCry have been reported in Iran so far. The majority of infections have been in telecommunications, health, medical, and academic operators, especially in the provinces of Tehran and Isfahan.
Experts recommend that users update their Windows operating system and antivirus, back up important files, and not open email attachments that seem suspicious.
Source: DW
