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North Korea will launch a ‘greater scale of cyber attacks’ on the UK next year, it has been claimed
Robert Hannigan, the ex-director of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), has warned that the WannaCry ransomware attack on the NHS in May is just the start of despot leader Kim Jong-un’s cyber war.
He said: “WannaCry was really a reasonably sophisticated tool, used rather ineptly. They will learn from that. People always do.
“They will get better at using those tools, and there are far more sophisticated tools out there, and they will start to use them.
“The technical sophistication of the threats is going to get worse, without question.
“We’ll see more ransomware, we’ll see a greater scale of attacks.”
The security expert added that greater state involvement in Pyongyang will lead to “more destructive” attacks and will result in “more of what I call collateral damage”.
Mr Hannifin went on: “If you look at the NHS, nobody would seriously believe that the North Koreans wanted to attack the NHS, and not least because they were never going to pay a ransom.
“These were collateral casualties, if you like, in cyber space.
“The critical thing is that there are players out there now behaving badly enough not really to care.
“Either because they don’t have a stake in the international system, or they have a stake but actually, that’s a threshold of damage that they can live with in order to deliver whatever effect they want to deliver.
“And they would expect the rest of the world just to live with that.
“So I think we will see more of that unfortunately – more collateral damage and more unintended consequences.”
The security expert explained that the rogue state is not the only force to fear in the cyber realm, discussing the threat imposed by Islamic State on the UK.
He declared: “Groups like ISIL love the idea of a destructive attack.
“They are a very long way from having the capability.
“But, as always with terrorism, intent and capability will meet at some point.
“The challenge for Government and for industry, and particularly for critical national infrastructure providers, is to make sure that by the time those two converge, we are better armed against attack. But it is bound to happen at some stage.”
UK Security Minister Ben Wallace detailed that the cyber attack on the NHS earlier this year that also saw over 230,000 computers in over 150 countries infected was caused by the hermit kingdom.
He stated: “This attack, we believe quite strongly that it came from a foreign state. North Korea was the state that we believe was involved this worldwide attack.”
The attack saw 81 hospitals in the UK have their terminals come to a standstill, leading to the cancelation of 20,000 medical appointments.
A Republican Senator recently warned that the hermit kingdom will not only use cyber attacks to inflate its aggressive rhetoric but could also spark a war and “will” use its weapons against the United States and the rest of the world.
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The WannaCry cyber attack saw 81 hospitals in the UK have their terminals come to a standstill
Cory Gardner, a United States Senator, has criticised using “strategic patience” against the rogue state and Kim Jong-un as world tensions rise.
During an interview with On Assignment with Richard Engel on MSNBC, the Republican warned about the dangers of the hermit kingdom, with fears a war could trigger World War 3.
Mr Gardner said: “If your kids are around the table and they are throwing food around at each other, do you just sit back and say ‘I’m going to strategically wait until they stop’.
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The attack on the NHS in May was warned as just the start of despot leader Kim Jong-un’s cyber war
“What we get with patience is a nuclear programme in North Korea.
“What we got with patience is a launching of ballistic missiles.
“If people believe they can trust Kim Jong-un, he said he would use his weapons, I believe him.”