WASHINGTON (REUTERS) – Facebook and Microsoft acted last week to disable a number of potential North Korean cyber threats, a senior White House official said, as the United States publicly blamed Pyongyang for a May cyber attack that crippled hospitals, banks and other companies..
WASHINGTON (REUTERS) – Facebook and Microsoft acted last week to disable a number of potential North Korean cyber threats, a senior White House official said, as the United States publicly blamed Pyongyang for a May cyber attack that crippled hospitals, banks and other companies.
“Facebook took down accounts and stopped the operational execution of ongoing cyber attacks and Microsoft acted to patch existing attacks, not just the WannaCry attack initially,” White House homeland security adviser Tom Bossert said on Tuesday (Dec 19).
Bossert did not provide details on the actions but said the US government was calling on other companies to cooperate in cyber security defence.
Bossert said at a White House news conference that Pyongyang was responsible for the WannaCry cyber weapon launched in May. The attack was “meant to cause havoc and destruction,” Bossert said, while conceding there was little the United States could do to exert further pressure on Pyongyang.
“We don’t have a lot of room left here to apply pressure to change their behaviour,” Bossert said.
