Researchers Link Ransomware to N. Korea

Researchers at Symantec and Kaspersky Lab have discovered a potential link between North Korea and the WannaCry ransomware virus, Reuters reports. Code from an earlier version of the virus reportedly matches code from used by the Lazarus Group, which researchers believe to be a North Korean hacking group. While the evidence is still too sparse to link WannaCry definitively to North Korea, the code “is the best clue we have seen to date as to the origins of WannaCry,” Kaspersky Lab researcher Kurt Baumgartner told Reuters. WannaCry has infected more than 300,000 computers since Friday, locking the machines until their owners pay a bitcoin ransom.