Page 11 - aruba-today-20220115

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business Saturday 15 January 2022
Cyberattack in Ukraine targets government websites

By Y. KARMANAU, F. BAJAK ed get. "The follow-through
and DASHA LITVINOVA on sentencing will send the
Associated Press strongest signal one way or
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A cy- another as to IF there has
berattack left a number truly been a change in how
of Ukrainian government tolerant Russia will be in the
websites temporarily un- future to cyber criminals,"
available Friday, officials he said via email.
said. And Yelisey Boguslavskiy,
While it wasn't immediately research director at Ad-
clear who was responsible, vanced Intelligence, said
the disruption came amid that while the arrests do
heightened tensions with follow a pattern of Kremlin
Russia and after talks be- pressure on ransomware
tween Moscow and the criminals — including in
West failed to yield any sig- some cases prompting
nificant progress this week. them to hand over de-
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry cryption keys — those ar-
spokesman Oleg Nikolenko rested could simply be
told The Associated Press low-level affiliates, not the
it was too soon to say who core group that managed
was behind it, "but there is the malware. The REvil syn-
a long record of Russian cy- dicate also apparently
ber assaults against Ukraine Associated Press ripped off some affiliates so
in the past." error-ridden and clearly not NATO without having to somware gangs, whose it had enemies in the crimi-
Moscow had previously de- from a native speaker. commit troops. activities have only moder- nal underground, he said.
nied involvement in cyber- Tensions between Ukraine "If you're trying to use it as ately eased after a string of REvil's attacks crippled tens
attacks against Ukraine. and Russia have been run- a stage and a deterrent to high-profile attacks on criti- of thousands of computers
About 70 websites of both ning high in recent months stop people from moving cal U.S. infrastructure last worldwide and yielded at
national and regional gov- after Moscow amassed an forward with NATO consid- year including the Colonial least $200 million in ransom
ernment bodies were tar- estimated 100,000 troops eration or other things, cy- Pipeline. payments, Attorney Gen-
geted in the attack. but no near Ukraine's border. ber is perfect," Tim Conway, The FSB said it raided the eral Merrick Garland said in
critical infrastructure was NATO Secretary-General a cybersecurity instructor homes of 14 group mem- November when announc-
affected and no personal Jens Stoltenberg said Fri- at the SANS Institute, told bers and seized over 426 ing charges against two
data accessed, accord- day that the alliance will the AP in an interview last million rubles ($5.6 million), hackers affiliated with the
ing to Victor Zhora, deputy continue to provide "strong week. including in cryptocurren- gang.
chair of the State Service political and practical sup- Conway was in Ukraine last cy as well as computers, Such attacks brought sig-
of Special Communication port" to Ukraine in light of month conducting a simu- crypto wallets and 20 elite nificant attention from
and Information Protection. the cyberattacks. lated cyberattack on the cars "bought with mon- law enforcement officials
The hack amounted to Russia has long history of country's energy sector. ey obtained by criminal around the world. The
a simple defacement of launching cyber opera- The U.S. has been helping means." All those detained U.S. announced charges
government websites, said tions against Ukraine, in- Ukraine bolster its cyber de- have been charged with against two affiliates in No-
Oleh Derevianko, a leading cluding a hack of its vot- fenses through agencies in- "illegal circulation of means vember, hours after Euro-
private sector expert and ing system ahead of 2014 cluding the Department of of payment," a criminal of- pean law enforcement offi-
founder of the ISSP cyberse- national elections and an Energy and USAID. fense punishable by up to cials revealed the results of
curity firm. The hackers got assault the country's pow- The White House didn't im- six years in prison. The sus- a lengthy, 17-nation opera-
into a content manage- er grid in 2015 and 2016. mediately respond to a re- pects weren't named. tion. As part of that opera-
ment system they all use, In 2017, Russia unleashed quest seeking comment. According to the FSB, the tion, Europol said, a total
but "didn't get access to one of most damaging cy- In a separate development operation was conducted of seven hackers linked to
the websites themselves." berattacks on record with Friday, Russia's Federal Se- at the request of U.S. au- REvil and another ransom-
The main question, said the NotPetya virus that tar- curity Service, or FSB, an- thorities, who reported the ware family have been ar-
Derevianko, is whether this geted Ukrainian businesses nounced the detention of leader of the group to offi- rested since February.
is a standalone hacktivist and caused more than $10 members of the REvil ran- cials in Moscow. It's the first The AP reported last year
action — "patriotic" Russian billion in damage globally. somware gang, which was significant public action by that U.S. officials, mean-
freelancers — or part of a Ukrainian cybersecurity behind last year's Fourth Russian authorities since while, shared a small num-
larger state-backed opera- professionals have been of July weekend supply- U.S. President Joe Biden ber of names of suspected
tion. fortifying the defenses of chain attack targeting the warned Putin last year that ransomware operators with
A message posted by the critical infrastructure ever Florida-based software firm he needed to crack down Russian officials, who have
hackers in Russian, Ukraini- since. Zhora has told the AP Kaseya that crippled more on ransomware gangs in said they were investigat-
an and Polish that claimed that officials are particu- than 1,000 businesses and his country. ing.
Ukrainians' personal data larly concerned about Rus- public organizations glob- Experts said it was too early Brett Callow, a ransom-
had been placed online sian attacks on the power ally. to know if the arrests signal ware analyst with the cy-
and destroyed. Its threat- grid, rail network and cen- The FSB claimed to have a major Kremlin crackdown bersecurity firm Emsisoft,
ening tone told Ukrainians tral bank. dismantled the gang, but on ransomware criminals — said that "whatever Russia's
to "be afraid and expect Experts have said recently REvil effectively disband- or if may just have been motivations may be, the ar-
the worst." In response, Po- that the threat of another ed in July. Cybersecurity a piecemeal effort to ap- rests would "certainly send
land's government issued such cyberattack is signifi- experts say its members pease the White House. shockwaves through the
a statement noting that cant as it would give Rus- largely moved to other Bill Siegel, CEO of the ran- cybercrime community.
Russia has a long history of sian President Vladimir Pu- ransomware syndicates. somware response firm The gang's former affiliates
such disinformation cam- tin the ability to destabilize They cast doubt Friday on Coveware, said he'll be and business associates will
paigns and noted that the Ukraine and other ex-Soviet whether the arrests would watching to see what kind invariably be concerned
Polish in the message was countries that wish to join significantly impact ran- of prison time those arrest- about the implications."q