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The UK government says that Russia is to blame for the destructive NotPetya cyberattack that scrambled major infrastructure around the world in June 2017, costing firms millions . Foreign Office minister Lord Ahmad said that while the attack masqueraded as a criminal enterprise, its purpose was "principally to disrupt" Russia's primary target, Ukraine , and that Russian military was "almost certainly" behind the attack. In an unusually hard-line approach , UK government said that "the decision to publicly attribute this incident underlines the fact that the UK and its allies will not tolerate malicious cyber activity." However, Russia denies involvement in the attack. Speaking to Reuters , Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the allegations were groundless and part of a "Russophobic" campaign conducted in some Western countries. Via: phys.org Source: gov.uk via Engadget RSS Feed "http://ift.tt/2EtcrNU"

In a move that's sent bitcoin spiralling, officials in South Korea have announced plans to ban cryptocurrency trading in the country. The plans come against a backdrop of concerns regarding tax evasion, as cryptocurrency trading in the country is highly speculative and similar to gambling. Many currencies, such as bitcoin and ethereum , are priced much higher in South Korea's exchanges than elsewhere in the world. Industry data provider CoinMarketCap has even begun excluding some South Korean exchanges in its calculations "due to extreme divergence in prices from the rest of the world". Earlier this week, police and tax agencies raided the country's largest cryptocurrency exchanges. A source at Coinone, a major exchange in South Korea, told CNBC that local police have been investigating the company since last year, adding that "they think what we do is gambling". "There are great concerns regarding virtual currencies and justice ministry is b...