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/