Hackers using stolen NSA tool to victimise US cities: Report

Representational image (Max Pixel)

In 2017, a hacking tool devised by the National Security Agency of the US was leaked. It has since been used by hackers several times to shut down American cities and towns, reported The New York Times.

The hacking tool that went by the code-name EternalBlue involves malicious software. A group called Shadow Brokers leaked it in 2017. Hackers used the tool first to carry out WannaCry ransomware attacks worldwide in the same year.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the story.

The attack resulted in computer systems at hospitals, banks, and phone companies getting locked, which could be made operational again after coughing up a ransom. In the 2017 NotPetya assault against Ukraine, the same tool was used; this was dubbed one of the worst cyberattacks ever.

Though EternalBlue is now at the NSA backyard in Baltimore, the city has since come under a ransomware attack once on May 7, which garbled local government's monitors, affecting city services.

However, security experts believe Baltimore is not the only area that was attacked. Cybercriminals are possibly narrowing down on vulnerable towns and cities such as Pennsylvania and Texas. They are paralyzing the functioning of the local governments there.

Law enforcement and intelligence agencies have for years advised for backdoors to be built into encryption systems so that they can access the computers of the suspected persons. NSA, which has been developing its own tools to gain access to machines and gather data, did not pay heed to warnings that such backdoors could easily be discovered by hackers and lead to mayhem.

Referring to EternalBlue, Vikram Thakur, Symantec's director of security response, said that "it's incredible that a tool which was used by intelligence services is now publicly available and so widely used." Unnamed officials told the paper that more accountability was needed at the NSA, with one comparing the EternalBlue leak to failing to secure a warehouse of automatic weapons.