South Korean tech giant LG suffered a ransomware attack at the start of this week (Monday 14th August). Users of LG’s service centre and self-service kiosks reported issues with accessing accounts.

LG reported the issue to the Korean Internet and Security Agency (KISA), who confirmed the ransomware attack, stating “More investigation is still needed to determine the exact cause,”

A spokesman for LG said, “The problem was found to be caused by ransomware. There was no damage such as data encryption or asking for money, as we immediately shut down the service centre network.”

Authorities across the globe are still pursuing the perpetrators behind the WannaCry attack, which in May affected numerous businesses across nearly every nation in the world.

Security experts including the GCHQ, have suggested that North Korean state-backed hackers may be responsible for the WannaCry attacks.

Earlier this month, the WannaCry hackers cleaned out their Bitcoin ransom accounts and began converting the money to the anonymous cryptocurrency Monero, in efforts to hide their tracks.

Dr Jamie Graves, the founder and CEO of ZoneFox, told DIGIT: “Details are still emerging about this latest attack on LG, but at this stage it seems that the code used is identical to WannaCry, which swept across the world in May, with devastating consequences. 

“LG is of course a huge business and the fact it is based in South Korea will immediately raise questions – many pointed the finger at the country’s noisy neighbour when the WannaCry attack happened. The firm is saying it managed to block this latest attack, but if the code is written by the same criminal forces that were responsible earlier this year, its likely that more organisations could be affected. 

“The most worrying thing is that this shows that not enough lessons are being learnt – and there is still failure to keep IT systems constantly updated, despite the relentless barrage of attacks we are seeing. The speed and sophistication with which these cyber-crooks operate is exceptional. Every organisation must ensure they have the latest technologies in place, which provides them with a 360-degree, 24/7 visibility of activities and behaviour around business-critical IT systems.”