Analyst: Money Partial Motive in WannaCry Attack

(19 Dec 2017) A cybersecurity expert in Rome said on Tuesday he thinks it is plausible that North Korea launched a ransomware attack that infected hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide in May and crippled parts of Britain's National Health Service.

Fabio Rugge, who heads the Centre on Cybersecurity at Institute of International Political Studies (ISPI) in Rome, told the Associated Press a financial motive could be behind the attack.

On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump's administration was publicly blaming North Korea for the attack.

Homeland security adviser Tom Bossert wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed published Monday night that North Korea was "directly responsible" for the WannaCry ransomware attack and that Pyongyang will be held accountable for it.

The administration's finding of responsibility is based on evidence and confirmed by other governments and private companies, including the United Kingdom and Microsoft, Bossert said.

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