by Mac Slavo, SHTFPlan:

They’re calling it one of the biggest cyber attacks in history. Unprecedented in scale, Kaspersky Labs reports that some 45,000 devices have been compromised across 74 countries.

According to reports, America’s own National Security Agency (NSA) developed the very tools that have been used to break into computers around the world. The exploit, named “EternalBlue,” was released by a hacking group earlier this year and put up for sale.

It appears that someone took them up on the offer and is now using it to deliver Ransom Ware to target computers:

A hacking tool known as “eternal blue”, developed by US spies has been weaponised by the hackers to super-charge an existing form of ransomware known as WannaCry, three senior cyber security analysts said. Their reading of events was confirmed by western security officials who are still scrambling to contain the spread of the attack. The NSA’s eternal blue exploit allows the malware to spread through file-sharing protocols set up across organisations, many of which span the globe.

Ransom Ware is designed to stealthily compromise a target system, and once deployed, immediately locks down files by encrypting so that only someone with the key is able to unlock them. In most cases, the virus requests that the user send a certain amount of money, often using untraceable digital currencies like Bitcoin to cover their tracks. Failure to pay within the allotted time will render the files on the target system unusable.

The threat of martial law has once again become very real.

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