Microsoft’s Brad Smith has reiterated the need for a Digital Geneva Convention, in light of the recent attacks. He also blamed government vulnerability stockpiles as partly responsible for the attack.
Microsoft’s President and Chief Legal Officer has come out today blaming governments’ stockpiling of hacking tools as part of the reason for the recent hack that affected the NHS. WannaCrypt, the ransomware that has hit hundreds of thousands of systems in recent days was crafted based on an exploit developed by the National Security Agency (NSA) .
Microsoft President, Brad Smith, said:
Smith has renewed his call for a new Digital Geneva Convention, which would introduce a requirement for governments to report vulnerabilities to vendors, rather than stockpile, sell, or exploit them. Smith said he hopes that the recent attack renews determination for more urgent collective action between the technology sector, customers, and governments against cyber attacks.
WannaCrypt made headlines at the end of the previous working week, but is expected to inflict damage in the upcoming week as unsuspecting victims go back to work on Monday.
Source: The Seattle Times
