The NSA designed this CyberWeapon to exploit a Flaw in Microsoft Software... Instead of REPORTING this flaw to Microsoft so they could fix it, the NSA built Malware... An absurd waste of Taxpayer Dollars and COMMON SENSE. There is a formal tip line that allows anyone to report bugs... by the NSA FAILED TO REPORT THIS... and It has caused a Billion Dollars of Damage Worldwide...
Headline: In Baltimore and Beyond, a Stolen N.S.A. Tool Wreaks Havoc... For nearly three weeks, Baltimore has struggled with a cyberattack by digital extortionists that has frozen thousands of computers, shut down email and disrupted real estate sales, water bills, health alerts and many other services.
But here is what frustrated city employees and residents do not know: A key component of the malware that cybercriminals used in the attack was developed at taxpayer expense a short drive down the Baltimore-Washington Parkway at the National Security Agency, according to security experts briefed on the case.
Since 2017, when the N.S.A. lost control of the tool, EternalBlue, it has been picked up by state hackers in North Korea, Russia and, more recently, China, to cut a path of destruction around the world, leaving billions of dollars in damage. But over the past year, the cyberweapon has boomeranged back and is now showing up in the N.S.A.’s own backyard.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/25/us/nsa-hacking-tool-baltimore.html
N.S.A. Denies Its Cyberweapon Was Used in Baltimore Attack, Congressman Says... BALTIMORE — A Maryland congressman said on Friday that the National Security Agency had denied that one of its hacking tools, stolen in 2017, was used in a ransomware attack on Baltimore’s government that had disrupted city services for more than three weeks.
The statement, made by Representative C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, came in response to an article in The New York Times last weekend. The Times was told by people directly involved in the investigation in Baltimore that the N.S.A. tool, EternalBlue, was found in the city’s network by all four contractors hired to study the attack and restore computer services.
Investigators are still trying to determine the exact chronology of the attack. The leading theory is that hackers broke in through an open server in Baltimore’s network, installed a back door and then used EternalBlue to move across the city’s computers searching for valuable servers to infect, said the people involved in the investigation.
This week, the contractors discovered an additional software tool, called a web shell, on Baltimore’s networks. They believe the web shell may have been used in conjunction with EternalBlue and another hacking technique known as “pass-the-hash,” which uses stolen credentials, to spread the ransomware.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/31/us/nsa-baltimore-ransomware.html
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Headline: In Baltimore and Beyond, a Stolen N.S.A. Tool Wreaks Havoc... For nearly three weeks, Baltimore has struggled with a cyberattack by digital extortionists that has frozen thousands of computers, shut down email and disrupted real estate sales, water bills, health alerts and many other services.
But here is what frustrated city employees and residents do not know: A key component of the malware that cybercriminals used in the attack was developed at taxpayer expense a short drive down the Baltimore-Washington Parkway at the National Security Agency, according to security experts briefed on the case.
Since 2017, when the N.S.A. lost control of the tool, EternalBlue, it has been picked up by state hackers in North Korea, Russia and, more recently, China, to cut a path of destruction around the world, leaving billions of dollars in damage. But over the past year, the cyberweapon has boomeranged back and is now showing up in the N.S.A.’s own backyard.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/25/us/nsa-hacking-tool-baltimore.html
N.S.A. Denies Its Cyberweapon Was Used in Baltimore Attack, Congressman Says... BALTIMORE — A Maryland congressman said on Friday that the National Security Agency had denied that one of its hacking tools, stolen in 2017, was used in a ransomware attack on Baltimore’s government that had disrupted city services for more than three weeks.
The statement, made by Representative C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, came in response to an article in The New York Times last weekend. The Times was told by people directly involved in the investigation in Baltimore that the N.S.A. tool, EternalBlue, was found in the city’s network by all four contractors hired to study the attack and restore computer services.
Investigators are still trying to determine the exact chronology of the attack. The leading theory is that hackers broke in through an open server in Baltimore’s network, installed a back door and then used EternalBlue to move across the city’s computers searching for valuable servers to infect, said the people involved in the investigation.
This week, the contractors discovered an additional software tool, called a web shell, on Baltimore’s networks. They believe the web shell may have been used in conjunction with EternalBlue and another hacking technique known as “pass-the-hash,” which uses stolen credentials, to spread the ransomware.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/31/us/nsa-baltimore-ransomware.html