White House defends NSA, thanks Microsoft, Facebook for countering North Korean hackers
A top White House official on Tuesday personally thanked Microsoft and Facebook for helping counter North Korean hackers and said the National Security Agency was “not at all” at fault for this year’s infamous WannaCry ransomware incident. Thomas Bossert, the president’s homeland security adviser, mentioned the two companies by name in a press conference on North Korea’s connections to WannaCry. The Trump administration publicly attributed WannaCry to North Korea for the first time yesterday. Security researchers have said the hackers behind the ransomware outbreak in May amplified its effects by using computer code from a leaked NSA hacking tool known as EternalBlue. The briefing followed the publication Monday night of an editorial by Bossert in the Wall Street Journal that was the first time the Trump administration attributed the WannaCry outbreak to North Korea. Bossert broadly cited “evidence” without describing it outright. Statements shared by Facebook and Microsoft with CyberScoop imply that the companies’ efforts against North Korean hackers […]
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