Yesterday, former NBA star Dennis Rodman made his fifth visit to the reclusive and isolated country of North Korea. It was his visit since 2014 and he brought some of the interesting gifts that he gave to leader Kim Jong Un. According to the American intelligence officials, the National Security Agency (NSA) has linked the country's government with last month's worldwide attack using the WannaCry virus.
Rodman's visit to North Korea
On his most recent trip to North Korea, Dennis Rodman brought Kim Jong Un a variety of interesting presents. He gifted the North Korean leader with a copy of President Donald Trump's 1987 book 'The Art of the Deal' and a copy of 2013's 'Where's Waldo?
The Totally Essential Travel Collection' illustrated by Martin Handford. Rodman also gave him two autographed basketball jerseys, a mermaid puzzle and two sets of fancy soap.
Dennis Rodman has called Kim Jong Un a 'friend for life' in the past and is only one of a few Westerners to have ever personally met him. So far during his trip, he has visited the local sights, watched a North Korea men's basketball team play and visited with some of the country's Olympic athletes, as well as the country's Sports Minister. His visit to the country is expected to last four nights, but it is not known if Rodman will actually meet with Kim Jong Un face-to-face.
North Korea and the WannaCry virus
The internal review made by the National Security Agency (NSA) has not yet been made public but has "moderate confidence" towards it being from the Reconnaissance General Bureau, North Korea's spy agency.
The source with knowledge of the review says that this assessment is based on the analysis of the targets, tactics, and techniques of the WannaCry virus. Last month was when this virus spread across the globe like wildfire, affecting around 150 countries and over 300,000 people.
The review adds that so-called "cyber actors" who are believed to have been backed by the Reconnaissance General Bureau were two different versions of the virus.
WannaCry is a computer worm type of virus that was designed around an NSA hacking tool that was leaked and posted on the internet by an anonymous group named the 'Shadow Brokers.'
This was the first time that a computer worm had been combined with ransomware to raise money for the North Korean government. The hackers raised $140,000 in Bitcoin but have not yet been cashed in since the transactions would be easy to trace.
