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REP. LIEU LETTER TO NSA DIRECTOR ON "PETYA" MALWARE ATTACKS

June 28, 2017

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Washington – Today, Congressman Ted W. Lieu (D | Los Angeles County) sent a letter to the Director of the National Security Agency (NSA) Admiral Michael S. Rogers in the wake of the global "Petya" malware attacks. In his letter, Mr. Lieu asks the NSA to disclose any information the agency might have about how to stop the attacks and to work with technology companies to help them identify software vulnerabilities that hackers could exploit.

In the letter, Mr. Lieu writes:

"Security researchers have confirmed that Petya uses the suspected NSA exploit EternalBlue to infect systems, the same conduit through which the April WannaCry ransomware attacks were promulgated. Based on various reports, it appears these two global ransomware attacks likely occurred because the NSA's hacking tools were released to the public by an organization called the ShadowBrokers."

"My first and urgent request is that if the NSA knows how to stop this global malware attack, or has information that can help stop the attack, then NSA should immediately disclose it. If the NSA has a kill switch for this new malware attack, the NSA should deploy it now."

"Given the ongoing threat, I urge NSA to continue actively working with companies like Microsoft to notify them of software vulnerabilities of which the Agency is aware. I also urge the NSA to disclose to Microsoft and other entities what it knows that can help prevent future attacks based on malware created by the NSA."

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FULL TEXT OF MR. LIEU'S LETTER
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