Snowden: the NSA is indirectly to blame for the cyber attack that struck computers in 74 countries
MOSCOW, may 12. /TASS/. The national security Agency (NSA), the electronic intelligence of the USA, indirectly responsible for the cyber attack that struck on Friday, tens of thousands of computers in dozens of countries, including in hospitals in the UK.
This view was expressed by the former employee of U.S. intelligence Edward Snowden on his page on Twitter.
“Wow: the decision of the NSA to develop tools for the attack on the American software now threatens the lives of patients in hospitals,” wrote Snowden. “Despite the warnings, the NSA has created dangerous tools to carry out attacks that can hit Western software today we see what it cost”, he added.
“If the NSA would inform about the vulnerability of the program when she found it, the hospital would take years — not months — to prepare,” added the former intelligence officer of the United States. “In light of today’s attack, Congress (USA — approx. TASS) needs to ask the NSA whether it was aware of other vulnerabilities in the software that is used in our hospitals,” — said Snowden.
The company “Kaspersky Lab” at 21:45 GMT recorded 45 thousand attempts of hackers to attack computers worldwide with a virus-ransomware. Hackers tried to attack computers in 74 countries, the highest number of infection attempts observed in Russia. According to the company, for decryption the criminals need to pay $600 in Bitcoin. The virus, which hackers carried out an attack that exploits a vulnerability in the software company Microsoft.
Organized cyber attacks around the world the hackers used spy software, allegedly used by the NSA, told the American newspaper Politico.
According to her, the attackers demand a ransom for restoring computer networks, used spyware which was distributed earlier by a group of hackers, acting under the pseudonym Shadow Brokers. They claimed to have gained access to the allegedly developed by the NSA programs.
Edward Snowden — a former CIA officer who worked in a private company, carrying out the orders of the NSA. In 2013, he made public information on how electronic surveillance of U.S. intelligence. Fleeing persecution from the United States, Snowden has sent requests for asylum to the authorities in more than 20 countries, including Russia. 1 Aug 2014 he has got a residence permit in Russia for three years and then located on the territory of Russia.