Security News > 2022 > May > US, Europe formally blame Russia for data wiper attacks against Ukraine, Viasat
The US and the European Union have officially blamed Russia for a series of destructive data-wiping malware infections in Ukrainian government and private-sector networks - and said they will "Take steps" to defend against and respond to Kremlin-orchestrated attacks.
Beginning in January, and continuing after Russian troops illegally invaded Ukraine the following month, as Ukrainian websites were vandalized or pummeled offline in distributed denial-of-service attacks, Russian cyberspies planted malicious data-destroying code in Ukraine's computers.
"The United States has assessed that Russian military cyber operators have deployed multiple families of destructive wiper malware, including WhisperGate, on Ukrainian Government and private sector networks," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement today.
Ghostwriter, a crew thought to be connected to Russia's GRU military intelligence service, started using this strain of malware against organizations in Ukraine on January 15, we're told.
"The European Union will continue to provide coordinated political, financial and material support to Ukraine to strengthen its cyber resilience."
In a similarly worded statement, Blinken said America and its allies "Are taking steps to defend against Russia's irresponsible actions." Several agencies, including the FBI, Department of Energy, CISA, and the US Agency for International Development are providing technical and monetary support to help Ukraine identify threats and respond to attacks.
News URL
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2022/05/10/us_eu_russia/
Related news
- Hackers breach US firm over Wi-Fi from Russia in 'Nearest Neighbor Attack' (source)
- Evil Corp's deep ties with Russia and NATO member attacks exposed (source)
- DOJ, Microsoft seize 107 domains used in Russia's Star Blizzard phishing attacks (source)
- Russia arrests US-sanctioned Cryptex founder, 95 other linked suspects (source)
- Healthcare attacks spread beyond US – just ask India's Star Health (source)
- US and UK govts warn: Russia scanning for your unpatched vulnerabilities (source)
- China again claims Volt Typhoon cyber-attack crew was invented by the US to discredit it (source)
- China's Volt Typhoon reportedly breached Singtel in 'test-run' for US telecom attacks (source)
- Officials warn of Russia's tech-for-troops deal with North Korea amid Ukraine conflict (source)
- Microsoft patches Windows zero-day exploited in attacks on Ukraine (source)