Greater global cooperation required to fight cyber crime

The unprecedented global cyberattack that began on Friday has reportedly infected hundreds of thousands of computers in more than 150 countries and regions, including China, where around 30,000 institutions such as universities and gas stations have fallen victim to the WannaCry ransomware, according to Qihoo 360, a leading Chinese internet security company.

The scale of the attack shows that in an increasingly interconnected world, no country should consider itself safe from cyber threats.

So far no clues have been uncovered as to who was behind the malicious software, which locks users' computer files and demands a ransom payment of $300 to $600 to unlock them. However, the US National Security Agency must shoulder some of the blame, because the computer virus is based on one of the hacking tools that the agency created for its own use, which ended up in the hands of cyber criminals.