Bitcoin and hacking blackmail: cybercrime or someone's provocation?

I do not see much point in describing again and even briefly summarizing the events that took place on May 12 - if only in a few words: the attack on thousands of computers in the world will soon be forgotten, as they do not remember the bird flu, swine flu, Ebola fever and other deadly dangers. Before the next incident, of course. Mostly, the event only attracted public attention. But to what exactly? Still it is necessary to decompose the facts in order.

Facts

Since May 12, a certain virus WannaCry in most countries of the world began to block the computers of ordinary users and employees of state. Institutions (mainly). For the unlocking it was suggested to make a ransom, and in bitokoyah. Most of the users just sent extortionists into the distance and did not pay anything. As a result, the proceeds of blackmailers according to official estimates did not even reach $ 50,000. Some organizations and even entire countries are generally lucky to get off with a slight fright. That's the whole point - and how much noise!

But here the prehistory and background of what happened are more interesting. True, first it is necessary to briefly outline this evil spirits, so that the essence is very clear.

The virus can get to the user's computer in any way, for example, when visiting an infected web page or through a mailbox. To erase an infection from a hard disk is almost impossible - just throw it out. To modify the virus used special exploits, the history of which is rather doubtful and not unknown.

Legend

Back in August 2016, some self-identified The Shadow Brokers posted open files, according to them, developed by the American NSA and stolen by even more famous hackers - the Equation Group. Who exactly created this "cyber weapon" is still incomprehensible, but there is a version about the direct connection between the NSA and the Equation Group.

With the latter for many years, the Kaspersky Lab has been struggling, led by a specially created division of GReAT. As they say - Equation Group has a direct relationship to such well-known "fighting" viruses as Stuxnet and Gauss. The trail of known hackers lasts since 1996 - well, in principle, from the very dawn of Internet technologies.

Honestly, the material is being recruited for a great blockbuster plot, where good hackers fight with bad hackers, and at stake - the security of the whole world. Everything is like a good Hollywood fairy tale. Although it's hard for a simple kid to argue or deny anything.