Last Friday the computers of several Ukrainian institutions were infected with malicious software which, according to Microsoft, could also lead to a paralysis of the entire government IT infrastructure. Who is behind the attack? Moscow accuses Kiev.
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“To date, all the evidence indicates that Russia is behind the cyber attack,” Ukraine’s Department of Digital Transformation wrote in a statement on Sunday. This sabotage “is a manifestation of the hybrid war that Russia has waged against Ukraine since 2014”, the aim of which is “not only to intimidate society”, but also “to destabilize the situation in Ukraine” “by undermining Ukrainians’ confidence in the their power, “writes the ministry.
The cyber attack in the night between Thursday and Friday targeted the sites of several Ukrainian ministries, which were inaccessible for several hours. The incident took place amid mounting tensions between Moscow and Kiev and its Western allies who denounced the Russian militerization of Ukraine’s eastern border, with Kremlin troops massed in preparation for a possible invasion.
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Eastern Ukraine has been torn apart since 2014 by the war between Kiev forces and pro-Russian separatists, of which the Kremlin is widely regarded as the military and financial sponsor. The conflict broke out after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula in the same year.
Microsoft explained on Sunday that the massive cyber attack could render the Ukrainian government’s entire IT facility unusable. “Malicious software (malware), which looks like ransomware but does not ask for a ransom, aims to destroy and render the targeted sites unusable,” said the American giant.
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Additionally, according to Microsoft, the attack appears to have targeted more organizations than originally thought. “We found this malware on dozens of systems belonging to the government but also to NGOs and IT organizations, all based in Ukraine.”
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