Ransomware WannaCry virus has taken over the globe with having an impact on more than 150 countries is said to be originated from North Korea, according to Kaspersky and Symantec, the top two cyber security firms.
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The IP traced by the security firms confirms connection of WannaCry with North Korean cybergang Lazarus Group which is known to have government ties.
To highlight the probability of the Korean hackers’ involvement, Kaspersky discusses in a blog post that the new versions of the ransomware do not have the repeated codes. It also discovered that the attacks have been generated from IP addresses based in North Korea.
The North Korean hackers were implicated in the 2014 attack on Sony Pictures and an $81m heist on a Bangladeshi bank in 2016 and have been known to use and target Bitcoin in its hacking operations, reports The Guardian.
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Security researcher Neel Mehta first reported the similarities which were then echoed by other researchers. The WannaCry ransomware attack has now hit more than 200,000 computers in 150 countries, crippling hospitals, governments, and businesses.
With inputs from ANI