WH: Kim Jong Un behind massive WannaCry malware attack

White House Homeland Security Advisor Tom Bossert said Tuesday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered the release of WannaCry, the malware attack that spread rapidly throughout hundreds of thousands of computers in 150 countries during a single week in May. 

"We do not make this allegation lightly. We do this with evidence. We do so with partners," Bossert said during a White House press conference. 

Victims of WannaCry included the British National Health Service, which had to turn away patients during the attacks. Other severely impacted victims included government systems in India and Russia, FedEx and the Spanish telecom Telefónica.

On Monday evening, Bossert wrote an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal formally announcing the White House believed WannaCry was the work of North Korean actors. 

At the press conference, Bossert said other nations, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and Japan as well as private sector partners, including Microsoft, had agreed with the United States assessment that North Korea was behind the attack.  

Bossert said that the goal of the announcement to "name and shame" the North Korean actors.

"I hope they stop acting badly online," he said, adding "If they don't, this president will act on behalf of the United States." 

He did not claim to know what shape that response would take, saying the Trump administration had tried "every lever short of starving the people of North Korea to death." 

Security researchers believe this group behind the WannaCry attack was a notorious North Korean hacking operation known as Lazarus. 

The Lazarus group is best known for being suspected of hacking Sony Pictures in late 2014. Later, the group was tied to a series of digital bank heist utilizing the SWIFT system banks use to request transfers, as well as other attacks. Most recently, Lazarus has been tied to phishing attempts on cryptocurrency exchanges.

US says Facebook, Microsoft disabled North Korean cyber actions

Facebook Inc and Microsoft Corp acted last week to disable a number of North Korean cyber actions, White House homeland security adviser Tom Bossert said on Tuesday as the United States publicly blamed Pyongyangfor a May cyber attack that crippled hospitals, banks and other companies.

Bossert did not provide details on those actions but said the US government was calling on companies to cooperate in cyber security defense.


"The attack was widespread and cost billions, and North Korea is directly responsible," Bossert had written in a piece published on Monday night in the Wall Street Journal.

"North Korea has acted especially badly, largely unchecked, for more than a decade, and its malicious behavior is growing more egregious," Bossert wrote. "WannaCry was indiscriminately reckless."


The US government has assessed with a "very high level of confidence" that a hacking entity known as Lazarus Group, which works on behalf of the North Korean government, carried out the WannaCry attack, an official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the government's investigation, had said.

Lazarus Group is widely believed by security researchers and US officials to have been responsible for the 2014 hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment that destroyed files, leaked corporate communications online and led to the departure of several top studio executives.

North Korean has repeatedly denied responsibility for WannaCry and called other allegations about cyber attacks a smear campaign.


The accusation comes as worries mount about North Korea's hacking capabilities and its nuclear weapons program.


'PATTERN OF MISBEHAVING'

Many security researchers, including the cyber firm Symantec, as well as the British government, have already concluded that North Korea was likely behind the WannaCry attack, which quickly unfurled across the globe in May to infect more than 300,000 computers in 150 countries.


Considered unprecedented in scale at the time, WannaCry knocked British hospitals offline, forcing thousands of patients to reschedule appointments and disrupted infrastructure and businesses around the world.

The attack originally looked like a ransomware campaign, where hackers encrypt a targeted computer and demand payment to recover files. Some experts later concluded the ransom threat may have been a distraction intended to disguise a more destructive intent.


A separate but similar attack in June, known as NotPetya, hit Ukraine and other nations and caused an estimated $300 million in damages to international shipper FedEx.


Some researchers have said they believed WannaCry was deployed accidentally by North Korea as hackers were developing the code. The senior administration official declined to comment about whether U.S. intelligence was able to discern if the attack was deliberate.

Saudi Arabia Says It Intercepts Houthi Missile Fired Toward Riyadh, No Reported Damage

Saudi air defences intercepted a ballistic missile fired towards the capital Riyadh on Tuesday but there were no reports of casualties, the Saudi-led coalition said, the latest in a series of attacks by an Iran-aligned group in Yemen.

A spokesman for the Houthi movement said a ballistic missile targeted the royal court at al-Yamama palace, where a meeting of Saudi leaders was under way.

There was no official word on this assertion, but a royal family member appeared to confirm the missile was aimed at a royal palace meeting.

"Coalition forces confirm intercepting an Iranian-Houthi missile targeting (the) south of Riyadh. There are no reported casualties at this time," the government-run Center for International Communication wrote on its Twitter account.

The attack happened hours before Saudi Arabia was due to announce the country's annual budget in a news conference expected to be attended by senior ministers.

Reuters witnesses described hearing a blast and said they saw smoke in the north-east of Riyadh.

Saudi Arabia said on Nov. 4 it had intercepted a ballistic missile over Riyadh's King Khaled Airport, in an attack that provoked a strong reaction from the kingdom.


Riyadh accused Iran of smuggling the missile to the Houthis and imposed a blockade on Yemen demanding that united Nations inspection procedures be tightened.

Last week the United States presented for the first time pieces of what it said were Iranian weapons supplied to the Houthis, describing it as conclusive evidence that Tehran was violating U.N. resolutions.

US stands alone, defiant at UN Security Council over Jerusalem

Exercising its veto power at the United Nations for the first time, the Trump administration torpedoed a Security Council resolution critical of the White House's unilateral recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley cast the veto, blocking the resolution, introduced by Egypt, despite the 14 other members of the Security Council voting in favor.

"Today for the simple act of deciding where to put our embassy, the United States was forced to defend its sovereignty. The record will reflect that we did so proudly," Haley said after the vote.

"Today for acknowledging a basic truth about the capital city of Israel, we are accused of harming peace. The record will reflect that we reject that outrageous claim. For these reasons and with the best interest of both the Israeli and the Palestinian people firmly in mind, the United States votes no on this resolution."

Palestinian leaders slammed the US decision, citing it as further proof the White House could no longer play an impartial role in any Israeli-Palestinian peace process. A spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said the US veto "contravenes the resolutions of international community and Security Council resolutions and represents a complete bias with the [Israeli] occupation and aggression," according to Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency.

India’s Governing Party Shows Its Might in State Elections

India’s governing party — which detractors say stokes religious divisions but supporters praise for economic development — handily won two state elections, according to results released on Monday.

It seems that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party continue to be a formidable political force.

Despite aggressive campaigning by the opposition and talk about rising discontent over India’s economy, unemployment and poor public services, the governing party held control of the State Assembly of Gujarat, one of India’s most industrialized states, and it captured the assembly of Himachal Pradesh, a small state tucked in the Himalayas.

Mr. Modi was a celebrated chief minister in Gujarat’s state government for 13 years before rising to prime minister of the country in 2014. Over the past several weeks, he has crisscrossed the state, holding huge rallies that have turned dusty fields into seas of saffron flags and scarves — saffron is his party’s signature color — and even traveling by seaplane.

Cops probe suspicious deaths of pharma billionaire, wife

Toronto homicide detectives have taken over the investigation of the deaths of billionaire Barry Sherman and his wife after autopsies showed they died from "ligature neck compression."

Police released a statement Sunday reporting the cause of death. Authorities also identified pharmaceutical magnate Sherman and his wife, Honey, as the two people found dead in a north Toronto mansion Friday.

Police call the deaths suspicious, but on Friday also said that there were no signs of forced entry and that they were not looking for any suspect.

The Sherman family issued a statement Saturday urging police to conduct a "thorough, intensive and objective criminal investigation" into the deaths and calling on the media to avoid speculating on the cause of the deaths.

Canadian Business magazine recently estimated his worth at 4.77 billion Canadian dollars ($3.65 billion), making him the 15th richest person in the country.

But the Shermans didn't flaunt their wealth. He drove beat-up cars. They recently put up their house for sale for 6.9 million Canadian dollars ($5.4 million), but the home is relatively modest for a billionaire.

Sherman founded Toronto-based Apotex Inc. in 1974 with two employees and turned the generic drugmaker into a company that now has 11,000 employees worldwide. The company released a statement Saturday paying tribute to its founder, praising both his philanthropic efforts and what it described as his vision for health care.

The Shermans were among Canada's most generous philanthropists, and their deaths shocked Canadian high society and the country's Jewish community. The couple made numerous multimillion-dollar donations to hospitals, schools and charities and had buildings named in their honor. They hosted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at a Liberal Party fundraiser in 2015.

Honey Sherman was sat on the boards of several civic groups, including Mount Sinai's Women's Auxiliary, the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the International American Joint Distribution Committee.

Linda Frum, a Canadian senator and close friend of the couple, said they were one of the kindest and most beloved members of Canada's Jewish community.

Demand For Meat Is Growing Rapidly in India. This Could Impact All Of Us

India is projected to be one of the largest growth areas for consumption in chicken, beef, and mutton. And while vegetarianism is often believed to be widespread in India, influenced by religion and other factors, the data seems to suggest otherwise.

According to the sample registration system (SRS) baseline survey 2014 released by the registrar general of India, 71 percent of Indians over the age of 15 are non-vegetarian. While that means 330 million of India’s 1.2 billion people are vegetarian, it obscures the fact that many are rapidly abandoning their vegetarian diet due to an increased desire for meat.

Higher meat consumption in India is not entirely surprising, as meat-heavy diets are often correlated with an increase in wealth. As the emerging market countries like India gain a larger share of the economic pie, the trend is likely to continue.

This is important for many reasons, as the world is already grappling with climate change and water scarcity. It takes over 8,000 liters of water to produce 1 kg of mutton and 4000 liters for 1 kg of chicken, which is significantly larger than that of plant-based protein. Chicken production also releases 25 times more CO2 than grain production per calorie.