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The NSA has linked the WannaCry computer worm to North Korea

washingtonpost.com

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Re: The NSA has linked the WannaCry computer worm to North Korea

#41

Post by threeseed »

zabana wrote: post #37
threeseed wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea that the US needs to actively spread propaganda about North Korea is pretty ridiculous. You are aware that they have been sending missiles on a regular basis and inviting criticism from pretty much everyone. Who exactly is pro-North Korea that the US is trying to sway ?

And what has the US been doing for the last 50 years exactly ? If not dropping missiles and bombs on civilian populations abroad under the pretence of "spreading democracy" and "stopping terrorism"

Your comment is just nonsense on so many levels.

1) The US does not actively target civilians. That's a war crime. There are incidental deaths absolutely but if the US was intentionally trying to cause mass deaths they would simply drop a nuclear bomb a few more times.

2) What does this have to do with spreading propaganda, cyberattacks or North Korea ?

Re: The NSA has linked the WannaCry computer worm to North Korea

#42

Post by claytonjy »

threeseed wrote: post #32
iffe_closure wrote: post #11

Maybe I'm old fashioned but I take any hacking blame from gov to gov as likely propaganda.

The idea that the US needs to actively spread propaganda about North Korea is pretty ridiculous. You are aware that they have been sending missiles on a regular basis and inviting criticism from pretty much everyone. Who exactly is pro-North Korea that the US is trying to sway ?

While I don't think this is the case here, specifically, propaganda isn't always about swaying people from anti- to pro-; it could be for swaying people from "they are bad, but not that dangerous" to "they are dangerous enough that we should intervene with force"

Re: The NSA has linked the WannaCry computer worm to North Korea

#43

Post by openasocket »

cottsak wrote: post #38
openasocket wrote: post #21

OK, so I know this is going to come up in the comments, but this is not remotely a baseless allegation. The Lazarus group (one of the names for the DPRK-associated APT group) is somewhat well known and is quite sophisticated. This is the same group that hacked Sony a few years back. And to preempt people who are going to chime in with "Sony was just some insider leaking data" there is extensive evidence showing it wa…

It's not been fully confirmed/established that Lazarus group == DPRK: see "false flag" from Kaspersky researchers https://www.wired.com/2017/05/wannacry-ransomware-link-suspe...

In that link they only raise doubts about Lazarus being behind WannaCry, not Lazarus being associated with the DPRK. And the Kapersky researchers' quote says that this being a false flag is "possible" but "improbable"

Re: The NSA has linked the WannaCry computer worm to North Korea

#44

Post by DSMan195276 »

pqdbr wrote: post #7

If this checks out, it's very surprising. I would assume they wouldn't have the skills for pulling out something so massive like this.

I donno, from a technical standpoint it never seemed to me like WannaCry was extremely complicated. I actually described a Ransomware with a very similar crypto scheme on here not that long ago [0], and I don't have tons of crypto experience past taking a class on it in college. With that said I'm sure there are other ransomwares out there that already do something very similar (or even the same).

The more complicated part was the propagation via the exploit, but at the same time the exploit was already out in the open. That was part of the reason it only infected old or non-updated machines. So still not easy, but a good chunk of the initial work was done for them.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13147605

Re: The NSA has linked the WannaCry computer worm to North Korea

#45

Post by threeseed »

cottsak wrote: post #40
threeseed wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea that the US needs to actively spread propaganda about North Korea is pretty ridiculous. You are aware that they have been sending missiles on a regular basis and inviting criticism from pretty much everyone. Who exactly is pro-North Korea that the US is trying to sway ?

The point may simply be to move the attention away from the NSA, who are perhaps the real authors of WannaCry.

So the logic conclusion for you is not that North Korea did this who has no foreign currency and minimal income. But rather it was the NSA who is bankrolled by the US government and who will be receiving additional funds in the upcoming budget process.

Makes complete sense.

Re: The NSA has linked the WannaCry computer worm to North Korea

#46

Post by cottsak »

openasocket wrote: post #43
cottsak wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not been fully confirmed/established that Lazarus group == DPRK: see "false flag" from Kaspersky researchers https://www.wired.com/2017/05/wannacry-ransomware-link-suspe...

In that link they only raise doubts about Lazarus being behind WannaCry, not Lazarus being associated with the DPRK. And the Kapersky researchers' quote says that this being a false flag is "possible" but "improbable"

Agreed, confirming that there is no public evidence which hard links Lazarus to DPRK. Just want everyone to know the facts.

Re: The NSA has linked the WannaCry computer worm to North Korea

#47

Post by openasocket »

jszymborski wrote: post #13
jlgaddis wrote: post #2

The NSA has lost all credibility, as far as I am concerned.

I mean, at least find another whipping boy... this DPRK attribution is getting old hat

I assume you're referring to the Sony hacks? The evidence is pretty damning: https://www.operationblockbuster.com/wp-content/uploads/2016... which I linked elsewhere.

Any aspect of that report you want to contest?

Re: The NSA has linked the WannaCry computer worm to North Korea

#48

Post by threeseed »

claytonjy wrote: post #42
threeseed wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea that the US needs to actively spread propaganda about North Korea is pretty ridiculous. You are aware that they have been sending missiles on a regular basis and inviting criticism from pretty much everyone. Who exactly is pro-North Korea that the US is trying to sway ?

While I don't think this is the case here, specifically, propaganda isn't always about swaying people from anti- to pro-; it could be for swaying people from "they are bad, but not that dangerous" to "they are dangerous enough that we should intervene with force"

So it's not North Korea testing ballistic missiles capable of destroying Tokyo, Seoul, Hawaii etc. Or the fact that they are actively developing nuclear weapons capable of hitting anywhere in the US.

No it's not billions of lives that are the impetus to use force. Rather it's the huge sum of a few million dollars worth of Bitcoins i.e the cost of one of their more expensive bombs.

Re: The NSA has linked the WannaCry computer worm to North Korea

#49

Post by jhiska »

openasocket wrote: post #21

OK, so I know this is going to come up in the comments, but this is not remotely a baseless allegation. The Lazarus group (one of the names for the DPRK-associated APT group) is somewhat well known and is quite sophisticated. This is the same group that hacked Sony a few years back. And to preempt people who are going to chime in with "Sony was just some insider leaking data" there is extensive evidence showing it wa…

How did you prepare such a thought-out comment so fast after the post appeared?!?

You're amazing. Thank you for taking the time to share that info with us!

Re: The NSA has linked the WannaCry computer worm to North Korea

#50

Post by cottsak »

threeseed wrote: post #45
cottsak wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point may simply be to move the attention away from the NSA, who are perhaps the real authors of WannaCry.

So the logic conclusion for you is not that North Korea did this who has no foreign currency and minimal income. But rather it was the NSA who is bankrolled by the US government and who will be receiving additional funds in the upcoming budget process. Makes complete sense.

I don't know who did it. I'm just saying it's not a stretch to accuse the NSA given their history with hacking tools becoming public and the Snowden leaks.

To use the revenue generating argument from the OP article as a good indicator of the author is weak at best.

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