When the government's secret weapons become a public pandemic

Countries & Cities · Published 12 October 2026 · Updated 25 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: For years, the NSA held a digital skeleton key to the world's computers in a classified vault. When that vault was breached and the key leaked, it didn't just stay a secret—it became the engine for some of the most destructive cyberattacks in history.

EternalBlue is an exploit targeting a vulnerability in Microsoft's Server Message Block (SMB) protocol version 1. It allows remote attackers to execute code on Windows systems by sending specially crafted packets. While the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) developed the tool for offensive cyber operations, they kept it secret from Microsoft for more than five years. This 'stockpiling' of zero-day vulnerabilities meant that Microsoft could not identify or patch the flaw during its normal security cycles.

The situation shifted dramatically in 2017 when a hacker group called The Shadow Brokers stole and leaked the exploit. Following the leak, EternalBlue was used as the primary propagation method for several massive attacks. On May 12, 2017, the WannaCry ransomware utilized it to infect over 36,000 computers globally, causing more than $8 billion in damages across 150 countries. It was also used in the NotPetya attack on June 27, 2017, and has been linked to various banking trojans and state-sponsored hacking groups.

The fallout sparked a fierce debate over accountability. Microsoft criticized intelligence agencies for 'stockpiling' vulnerabilities like stolen missiles, while critics argued that the company remains responsible for releasing insecure products. The incident also highlighted the dangers of legacy systems; many organizations remained vulnerable because they failed to update machines that had gone years without patches. While some attributed specific attacks, like the 2019 Baltimore cyberattack, to EternalBlue, researchers later clarified it was not the actual mechanism used in that instance.

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