The New York Times reports that USA government officials have seen the similarities between WannaCry and the weapons employed in previous cyber attacks linked to North Korea, including the Sony hack, an assault on the central bank of Bangladesh a year ago, and an attack on Polish banks in February.
But the secretive regime has been linked to other major hacking cases in the past.
"Intezer Labs confirms the #WannaCry was initiated by North Korea". Most of the funds have not been recovered.
Choi is one of a number of researchers around the world who have suggested a possible link between the "ransomware" known as WannaCry and hackers linked to North Korea. The so-called WannaCry ransomware has lines of code that are identical to the malware used by a group of hackers called Lazarus that have been connected to North Korea in the past.
Identifying hackers behind sophisticated attacks is a notoriously hard task. The group is also thought to have been responsible for the Sony hack in 2014. Washington blamed Pyongyang for the hacking, a claim it denied - though it had strongly condemned the film, which features a fictional Central Intelligence Agency plot to assassinate leader Kim Jong-Un.
Turkey's Erdogan regains leadership of party he founded
In his speech after his election, Erdogan said the congress was a "new start" for Turkey and its citizens. Erdogan relinquished the role three years ago when he assumed the presidency.
Hackers stole movie scripts, entire films, internal memos and personal information on movie stars and Sony employees.
North Korea's deputy United Nations ambassador Kim In Ryong dismissed allegations that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea - the country's official name - was behind the recent wave of global cyberattacks as "ridiculous". The measures targeted senior regime officials. The North strongly denied all the allegations.
More importantly, Scott said, the rush to blame North Korea distracts from bigger issues - software vulnerabilities resulting from manufacturers' refusal to incorporate security into their software development, organizations' failure to protect their systems and client data and the responsibility of governments to "manage, secure, and disclose discovered vulnerabilities".
Global cybersecurity firms have pointed at North Korea as the mastermind behind the latest cyberattack. The ransomware also affected governments and other businesses. Seoul accused North Korea of stealing text messages and voice communications by "sending enticing text messages". According to Mehta's discovery, the "Lazarus Group" that works on behalf of North Koreans may be behind the attack as the hacking group has, in the past, used the same coding and tools as were used in "WannaCrypt" - the software used in the current hacking into the Microsoft operating software, the BBC reported on Tuesday. South Korea's spy agency estimated that Pyongyang took control of 10,000 computers in a single month in 2015. Some alleged North Korean-related cyberattacks have also been traced back to a hotel in Shenyang, China near the Korean border.
- Jose Pagliery contributed reporting.
Comments