Tory minister: North Korea was behind NHS ransomware attack
2 min read
North Korea was most likely behind the cyber-attack that hit the NHS earlier this year, a Home Office minister has declared.
Ben Wallace said the Government believed “quite strongly” that a foreign state was behind the attack, before he pointed the finger directly at Pyongyang.
It has been previously reported that security officials believe the malware attack in May that saw almost 7,000 appointments cancelled came from North Korea.
Security Minister Mr Wallace confirmed those reports today, shortly after a powerful government watchdog lambasted the NHS for leaving its computer systems vulnerable to attack.
“This attack, we believe quite strongly that it came from a foreign state,” he told Radio 4’s Today programme.
“North Korea was the state that we believe was involved in this worldwide attack.”
Mr Wallace added that the Government as well as many in the international community “can be as sure as possible” that “North Korea had taken this role”.
His comments came as the National Audit Office hit out at the health service for failing to prevent the ransomware despite warnings as early as 2014 that their systems were vulnerable to hackers.
A report by the body found “critical alerts” had been issued by NHS digital, calling on departments to update and safeguard their systems, while NHS Providers, which represents hospitals, warned that further attacks were ‘inevitable’.
Mr Wallace admitted that the attack – which is thought to have impacted some 19,000 appointments – could have been avoided.
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