US says Facebook, Microsoft disabled North Korean cyber threats

Bossert did not provide details on the actions by the two American tech heavyweights but said the US government was calling on other companies to cooperate in cyber security defence.

WASHINGTON: Facebook Inc and Microsoft Corp disabled a number of North Korean cyber threats last week, a White House official said on Tuesday, as the United States publicly blamed Pyongyang for a May cyber attack that crippled hospitals, banks and other companies. 

"Facebook took down accounts that stopped the operational execution of ongoing cyber attacks and Microsoft acted to patch existing attacks, not just the WannaCry attack initially," White House homeland security adviser Tom Bossert said on Tuesday.