Finance chiefs vow cyber action as partners warm to team Trump

G7 finance chiefs vowed Saturday to unite against cyber crime as they wrapped up talks marked by signs of a thaw in the frosty relations between the US administration and its main partners.

US Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin snaps a picture with his smartphone at the end of a G7 summit of finance ministers where they pledged to combat cyber crime  

G7 finance chiefs vowed Saturday to unite against cyber crime as they wrapped up talks marked by signs of a thaw in the frosty relations between the US administration and its main partners.

The focus on cyber crime followed a globe-spanning wave of cyber attacks that hit computer systems in nearly 100 countries on Friday, notably disrupting Britain's health service and bringing production at carmaker Renault to a standstill in France.

The ministers said in a statement that cyber incidents represent a growing threat to their economies and that tackling them should be a priority.

"We know nothing about it but of course we want to know how they hacked into very secure systems," said Ignazio Visco, governor of the Bank of Italy.

"At the moment it seems not to have created any problems for the financial system."

Italian finance minister Pier Carlo Padoan joked that the attacks had been perfectly timed.

"We tried to convince everyone we organised it to show how important the Italian agenda is," he quipped at the end of two days of discussions in a Norman fortress on Italy's southern Adriatic coast.

The isue has been on the agenda of the G7 for some time, with the primary focus on the potential threat of hackers being able to infiltrate the computer systems that run the international banking system, capital and equity markets.

Trump tax cuts

In concrete terms, the ministers mandated experts to continue their work on assessing the nature of the threat. Padoan said progress would be reviewed again when G7 leaders, including Donald Trump and new French President Emmanuel Macron, meet in Sicily at the end of this month.

Differences between the Trump administration and the rest of the G7 on free trade, the importance of multilateral institutions and climate change were again sidestepped, as they were at the G20 meeting in Germany earlier in the year.

But participants in the talks said relations with the US team led by Treasury SecretarySteven Mnuchin, making his G7 debut, were improving as familiarity breeds mutual confidence.

"With Steven Mnuchin, our relations are improving every time we meet," Padoan said.

"Of course there are differences and divergences ... but we are working well together on common areas of concern and joint measures."

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble at a press conference at the end of the summit 

Mnuchin said he "couldn't be happier with the last two days."

He felt people were becoming "more comfortable" with the goals of the new administration and said there had been much interest in Trump's plans to slash taxes.

Padoan said Mnuchin had told them tax reform would be "neither short nor simple" in light of opposition in Congress.

"People have a level of understanding of Trump's policies," Mnuchin said. "On the trade side, our objective is to grow exports, to give more opportunities to American workers to make things and sell them."

'Trade not free, fair'

Officials from the big European economies, Canada and Japan remain concerned about a lack of visibility over how Trump plans to implement his 'America First' agenda.

On that score, several senior European officials said they had been reassured by news of a new US-China trade deal, which they interpreted as a sign of flexibility and pragmatism on the part of the new administration, potentially suggesting fears of a new era of protectionism had been overstated.

"It is an encouraging sign," Padoan said.

In his first comment on the trade deal's substance, Mnuchin hailed the opening of China's beef market as "a big deal for US farmers."

"We don't want to be protectionist but we reserve the right to be. We believe trade is not free and fair."

On the global economy, the ministers noted that recovery was gaining momentum but that output remains below potential in many countries "with the balance of risks tilted to the downside".

There were also important discussions on the sidelines of the meeting about debt relief for Greece.

Talks between the leadership of the IMF and Eurozone lenders did not wrap up a deal to proceed with a new bailout package for the debt-plagued country.

But a green light for the 86-billion-euro package, the third international rescue of the Greek economy since 2010, is now expected to be issued on May 22, potentially bringing an end to the painful cycle of austerity Greece has endured for a decade.

Organisations hit by global cyberattack

A huge range of organisations around the world have been affected by the WannaCry ransomware cyberattack, described by the EU's law enforcement agency as "unprecedented".

Ransomware: how hackers take your data hostage 

A huge range of organisations around the world have been affected by the WannaCry ransomware cyberattack, described by the EU's law enforcement agency as "unprecedented".

Here are some of the most prominent victims, from Britain's National Health Service (NHS) to French carmaker Renault and the Russian interior ministry.

NHS

The British public health service - the world's fifth-largest employer, with 1.7 million staff -- was badly hit, with interior minister Amber Rudd saying around 45 facilities were affected. Several were forced to cancel or delay treatment for patients.

Pictures on social media showed screens of NHS computers with images demanding payment of $300 (230 pounds, 275 euros) in the virtual currency Bitcoin, saying: "Ooops, your files have been encrypted!"

Renault

The French automobile giant was hit, forcing it to halt production at sites in France and its factories in Slovenia and Romania as part of measures to stop the spread of the virus.

Nissan UK's unit in Sunderland was hit by the attack, spokeswoman Lucy Banwell said.

Russian banks and ministries

Russia's central bank was targeted, along with several government ministries and the railway system. The interior ministry said 1,000 of its computers were hit by a virus. Officials played down the incident, saying the attacks had been contained.

Germany railways

Germany's Deutsche Bahn national railway operator was affected, with information screens and ticket machines hit. Travellers tweeted pictures of hijacked departure boards showing the ransom demand instead of train times. But the company insisted that trains were running as normal.

Fedex

The US package delivery group acknowledged it had been hit by malware and said it was "implementing remediation steps as quickly as possible."

Telefonica

The Spanish telephone giant said it was attacked but "the infected equipment is under control and being reinstalled," said Chema Alonso, the head of the company's cyber security unit and a former hacker.

Fast-moving cyberattacks wreak havoc worldwide

cybercrime

A fast-moving wave of cyberattacks swept the globe Friday, apparently exploiting a flaw exposed in documents leaked from the US National Security Agency.

The attacks — which experts said affected dozens of countries — used a technique known as ransomware that locks users’ files unless they pay the attackers a designated sum in the virtual currency Bitcoin.

Affected by the onslaught were computer networks at hospitals in Britain, Russia’s interior ministry, the Spanish telecom giant Telefonica and the US delivery firm FedEx and many other organizations.

Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre and its National Crime Agency were looking into the UK incidents, which disrupted care at National Health Service facilities.

“This is not targeted at the NHS, it’s an international attack and a number of countries and organizations have been affected,” British Prime Minister Theresa May said.

Russia’s interior ministry said that some of its computers had been hit by a “virus attack” and that efforts were underway to destroy it.

The US Department of Homeland Security’s computer emergency response team said it was aware of ransomware infections “in several countries around the world.”

Jakub Kroustek of the security firm Avast said in a blog post update around 2000 GMT, “We are now seeing more than 75,000 detections… in 99 countries.”

Kaspersky researcher Costin Raiu cited 45,000 attacks in 74 countries, saying that the malware, a self-replicating “worm,” was spreading quickly.

In a statement, Kaspersky Labs said it was “trying to determine whether it is possible to decrypt data locked in the attack — with the aim of developing a decryption tool as soon as possible.”

– ‘Unequivocally scary’ –

“It’s unequivocally scary,” said John Dickson of the Denim Group, a US security consultancy.

Dickson said the malware itself, which exploits a flaw in Windows, was not new but that adding the ransomware “payload” made it especially dangerous.

“I’m watching how far this propagates and when governments get involved,” he said.

The malware’s name is WCry, but analysts were also using variants such as WannaCry.

Forcepoint Security Labs said in a statement that the attack had “global scope” and was affecting networks in Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Mexico.

In the United States, FedEx acknowledged it had been hit by malware and was “implementing remediation steps as quickly as possible.”

Britain’s National Health Service declared a “major incident” after the attack, which forced some hospitals to divert ambulances and scrap operations.

– Message to users: ‘Oops’ –

Pictures posted on social media showed screens of NHS computers with images demanding payment of $300 (275 euros) in Bitcoin, saying: “Ooops, your files have been encrypted!”

It demands payment in three days or the price is doubled, and if none is received in seven days, the files will be deleted, according to the screen message.

A hacking group called Shadow Brokers released the malware in April claiming to have discovered the flaw from the NSA, Kaspersky said.

Although Microsoft released a security patch for the flaw earlier this year, many systems have yet to be updated, researchers said.

“Unlike most other attacks, this malware is spreading primarily by direct infection from machine to machine on local networks, rather than purely by email,” Lance Cottrell, chief scientist at the US technology group Ntrepid.

“The ransomware can spread without anyone opening an email or clicking on a link.”

The sort of ransom demands have been growing precedent at medical facilities. In February 2016, a Los Angeles hospital, the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, paid $17,000 in Bitcoin to hackers who took control of its computers for more than a week.

“Ransomware becomes particularly nasty when it infects institutions like hospitals, where it can put people’s lives in danger,” said Kroustek, the Avast analyst.

A spokesman for Barts Health NHS Trust in London said it was experiencing “major IT disruption” and delays at all four of its hospitals.

“We have activated our major incident plan to make sure we can maintain the safety and welfare of patients,” the spokesman said. “Ambulances are being diverted to neighboring hospitals.”

Two employees at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, which is part of Barts Health, told AFP that all the computers in the hospital had been turned off.

Caroline Brennan, 41, went to the hospital to see her brother, who had open heart surgery.

“They told us there was a problem. They said the system was down and that they cannot transfer anyone till the computer system was back up,” Brennan said.

Some said the attacks highlighted the need for agencies like the NSA to disclose security flaws so they can be patched.

“These attacks underscore the fact that vulnerabilities will be exploited not just by our security agencies, but by hackers and criminals around the world,” said Patrick Toomey of the American Civil Liberties Union.