wannacry

WannaCry was a destructive ransomware worm deployed in May 2017 that infected over 200,000 computers across 150 countries in one of the most widespread cyberattacks in history, causing an estimated $4–8 billion in damages. The attack exploited the NSA-developed EternalBlue exploit (leaked by the Shadow Brokers) and hit critical services including the UK NHS, FedEx/TNT, and Spanish telecoms. WannaCry is attributed to the Lazarus Group, a North Korean state-sponsored threat actor, and was primarily a disruption operation rather than a financially motivated scheme, as its payment infrastructure was poorly designed.