Ukraine buffeted by data-wiping cyberattack as invasion fears loom (updated)

NetScout Systems

23/02/2022 15:59

(Adds details on hundreds of computers hit)
    LONDON/KYIV, Feb 23 (Reuters) - A newly discovered piece of
destructive software found circulating in Ukraine has hit
hundreds of computers, researchers at the cybersecurity firm
ESET said on Wednesday.
    In a series of statements posted to Twitter, the company
said that the destructive software had been "installed on
hundreds of machines in the country," an attack it said had
likely been in the works for the past couple of months.
    Vikram Thakur of cybersecurity firm Symantec, which is also
looking into the attacks, told Reuters that infections had
spread widely. 
    "We see activity across Ukraine and Latvia," Thakur said.   
    Who is responsible for the wiper remains unclear, although
suspicion immediately fell on Russia, which has repeatedly been
accused of launching data-scrambling hacks against Ukraine and
other countries. Russia has denied the allegations.
    Cybersecurity experts were racing to get to pick apart the
program, a copy of which was uploaded to the Alphabet-owned
crowdsourced cybersecurity site VirusTotal, to see what its
capabilities were.
    Ukraine has already been repeatedly hit by hackers as Russia
has massed troops around its borders. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2UY0FZ
    Earlier on Wednesday the websites of Ukraine's government,
foreign ministry and state security service were down in what
the government said was the start of another denial of service
(DDoS) attack.
    "At about 4 pm, another mass DDoS attack on our state began.
We have relevant data from a number of banks," said Mykhailo
Fedorov, Minister of Digital Transformation, adding that the
parliament website was also hit. 
    He did not mention which banks were affected and the central
bank could not immediately be reached for comment.
    The online networks of Ukraine's defence ministry and two
banks were overwhelmed last week in a separate intrusion. The
U.S. company Netscout Systems Inc  NTCT.O  later said the impact
had been modest.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2US1CC
    Ukrainian authorities said this week they had seen signs
that hackers were preparing to launch major attacks on
government agencies, banks and the defence sector. 
    Ukraine has suffered a string of cyberattacks that Kyiv has
blamed on Russia. Moscow, which is caught up in a mounting
confrontation with the West over Ukraine, has denied any
involvement.

 (Reporting by Maria Tsvetkova and Natalia Zinets in Kyiv and
James Pearson and Raphael Satter in London; writing by Matthias
Williams; Editing by Alex Richardson and Grant McCool)
 ((matthias.williams@thomsonreuters.com;))