A new analysis of the ransom note included with the global WannaCry Microsoft Windows malware hack earlier this month suggests that it may have originated in southern China. <br/><br/>As reported by the South China Morning Post (SCMP), Flashpoint, a for-profit internet consultancy, claimed that a proprietary analysis of the language used in the ransom note attached to the WannaCry malware attacks indicates a southern China origin. <br/><br/>Flashpoint, a US-based internet security consultancy, claimed that the ransom note was written by native Chinese-speakers with southern accents, from regions in or around the southern Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Singapore, or possibly Taiwan, according to the report. <br/><br/>Although earlier reports suggested a North Korean origin for the malware, the US company's analysis asserts the south China origin with "high confidence," SCMP reports.<br/><br/>The targeted malware, which locks the data of a computer running certain versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system and displays a message in 28 languages demanding a cryptocurrency ransom to unlock the device, has affected over 300,000 computers in some 150 countries over the past two weeks, as infections continue to spread. <br/><br/>The internet security company claimed that analysis revealed that the ransom note was written first in Chinese and then manually translated into English – before using Google Translate to convert the note into other languages.