White House: Blame cyberattack on hackers, not spy agencies
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s homeland security adviser has a message to those blaming U.S. intelligence agencies for the cyberattack encircling the globe: Don’t point a finger at the National Security Agency. Blame the hackers.
Since Friday, malware has infected an estimated 300,000 computers in 150 countries. Users’ files at hospitals, companies and government agencies have been held for ransom.
Cybersecurity experts say the unknown hackers used a hole in Microsoft software that was discovered by the National Security Agency. The hole was exposed when NSA documents were leaked online.
Brad Smith, general counsel and executive vice-president of Microsoft, laid some of the blame with the U.S. government, criticizing U.S. intelligence agencies for “stockpiling” software code that can be used by hackers.