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North Korea denies involvement in global ransomware attack

Tuesday, 31 October 2017 8:33 AM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 31 October 2017 9:47 AM ]

A photo taken on May 15, 2017 shows staff monitoring the spread of ransomware at the Korea Internet and Security Agency (KISA) in Seoul. (By AFP)

North Korea has denounced Britain’s allegation that Pyongyang has been involved in a global ransomware attack as a “wicked attempt” to cause an outcry against North Korea.

Back in May, a third of Britain’s public hospitals were affected by the WannaCry virus, which spread through devices across the world and locked them in exchange for cash.

The ransomware attack hit up to 300,000 computers in 150 countries.

Some experts said at the time that they had detected signs of a possible North Korean links, saying the code used had been similar to past hacks attributed to Pyongyang.

British Home Office Minister Ben Wallace on October 27 blamed Pyongyang for the cyberattack, which also hit the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), saying the UK government was “as sure as possible” that North Korea had been behind the attack.

A spokesman for the North’s Korea-Europe Association rejected the accusation, warning the UK against “groundless speculation.”

“This is an act beyond the limit of our tolerance and it makes us question the real purpose behind the UK’s move,” the official Korean Central News Agency quoted the spokesman as saying on Monday.

“The moves of the UK government to doggedly associate the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name) with the cyberattack cannot be interpreted in any other way than a wicked attempt to lure the international community into harboring greater mistrust of the DPRK,” the spokesman said.

North Korea has already been under United Nations sanctions over its nuclear and missile programs.

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