Why the NSA Makes Us More Vulnerable to Cyberattacks The Lessons of WannaCry – Foreign Affairs

There is plenty of blame to go around for the WannaCry ransomware that spread throughout the Internet earlier this month, disrupting work at hospitals, factories, businesses, and universities. First, there are the writers of the malicious software, which blocks victims access to their computers until they pay a fee. Then there are the users who didnt install the Windows security patch that would have prevented an attack. A small portion of the blame falls on Microsoft, which wrote the insecure code in the first place. One could certainly condemn the Shadow Brokers, a group of hackers with links to Russia who stole and published the National Security Agency attack tools that included the exploit code used in the ransomware. But before all of this, there was the NSA, which found the vulnerability years ago and decided to exploit it rather than disclose it.

All software contains bugs or errors in the code. Some of these bugs have security implications, granting an attacker unauthorized access to or control of a computer. These vulnerabilities are rampant in the software we all use. A piece of software as large and complex as Microsoft Windows will contain hundreds of them, maybe more. These vulnerabilities have obvious criminal uses that can be neutralized if patched. Modern software is patched all the timeeither on a fixed schedule, such as once a month with Microsoft, or whenever required, as with the Chrome browser.

When the U.S. government discovers a vulnerability in a piece of software, however, it decides between two competing equities. It can keep it secret and use it offensively, to gather foreign intelligence, help execute search warrants, or deliver malware. Or it can alert the software vendor and see that the vulnerability is patched, protecting the countryand, for that matter, the worldfrom similar attacks by foreign governments and cybercriminals. Its an either-or choice. As former U.S. Assistant Attorney General Jack Goldsmith has said, Every offensive weapon is a (potential)

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Why the NSA Makes Us More Vulnerable to Cyberattacks The Lessons of WannaCry - Foreign Affairs