Ransomware attack: Edward Snowden blames NSA for disaster – Mumbai Mirror

Edward Snowden has lashed out at America's National Security Agency for the ransomware disaster that crippled several computer systems including those at hospitals and banks across the world on Tuesday.

Snowden, a former NSA contractor who took asylum in Russia to escape prosecution for leaking classified information to the media, took to Twitter to slam the agency for its lax approach to digital safety. He alleged, "How many times does @NSAGov's development of digital weapons have to result in harm to civil infrastructure before there is accountability?"

Snowden made no attempt to hide his disdain for NSA's move, calling the malware "@NSAGov-enabled" in multiple tweets.

Snowden also shared a The Washington Post report that claimed that NSA was aware of the vulnerability in Microsoft's system for the past five years, but it didn't alert the company or the public because it was using it for its own surveillance purposes. The report also stated that the virus had been made by hackers by using code stolen from NSA.

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Top companies including Merck and Maersk in the US, and WPP in the UK, were hit by the ransomware, as was Chernobyl's radiation monitoring system in Russia, BNP Paribas Real Estate in France, tax offices in Brazil, Maersk's terminal at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in Mumbai, Mondelez International, Cadbury factory in Tasmania, and businesses in Australia. Hospitals under The Heritage Valley Health System in Pennsylvania also fell prey to the attack that Ukraine's Prime Minister Volodymyr Borysovych Groysman called "unprecedented" as his government's systems were also shut down by the virus.

The significance of the security breach at the NSA and its failure to protect its citizens was emphasised by Snowden when he tweeted:

Incidentally, while Snowden has 3.19 million followers on Twitter, he follows only one account: @NSAGov.

Read Also: India not much affected by global malware yet: Ravi Shankar Prasad

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Ransomware attack: Edward Snowden blames NSA for disaster - Mumbai Mirror