We now know how much last year’s WannaCry ransomware attack had cost the NHS, and it’s £92m. The news was revealed by the Department of Health and Social Care this Thursday, albeit tentatively, saying these are just estimates. Knowing the exact cost would “impose a disproportionate financial burden on the system”.

With reduced access to information, the NHS has had a lower output of patient care, costing the organisation some £19m in the seven days following the attack.

Then there was the bill for roughly £500,000, for IT support during the attack, as well as the £72m for the two months in the aftermath of the attack.

North Korea has slammed Britain for accusing it of being behind a global ransomware attack that hit the National Health Service, calling the allegation a “wicked attempt” to further tighten international sanctions against Pyongyang.

A third of Britain’s public hospitals were affected by the WannaCry worm in May, according to a government report.

Up to 300,000 computers in 150 countries were hit by WannaCry, which seized systems and demanded payment in Bitcoin to return control to users.

Some researchers have pointed the finger at Pyongyang, saying that the code used was similar to past hacks blamed on Kim Jong-Un’s regime.

Britain on Friday blamed North Korea for a ransomware attack this year that a new report revealed affected a third of English hospitals and could have been prevented with “basic” IT security.

“This attack, we believe quite strongly that it came from a foreign state,” Ben Wallace, a junior minister for security, told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme.

“North Korea was the state that we believe was involved in this worldwide attack,” he said, adding that the government was “as sure as possible”.

The WannaCry attack in May infected some 300,000 computers in 150 countries, including in Britain’s National Health Service (NHS), Spanish telecoms company Telefonica and US logistics company FedEx.

Britain’s National Audit Office revealed the attack had hit NHS England particularly hard, forcing the cancellation of some 19,500 medical appointments.

Computers at 81 hospital groups across England were affected — a third of the total number of 236.

Some 600 general practitioners were also affected.