The BBC has a report today that claims the Ukraine government is blaming Russia for the outbreak of the Petya Worm, a ransomeware attack that seems to not want the ransom. There were a number of skeptics who said it wasn't Russia, reasoning that since the attacks were also launched against Russian businesses. Not many, as it turns out.
If you look at the follow-on report by Symantec you will see that the attack was directed at financial services software widely used in Ukraine. This report also has a chart on the number of infections that is clear on where the target was. Ukraine had a significant number of infections, probably more than the other 20 countries combined. The US has the second highest number of infections.
These kinds of tailored attacks are supposed to limit damage to resources in the originator's country, which they succeeded in doing. Now, knowing the Russians did it will be no small comfort the Ukraine. They can't do much about it, except launch retaliatory strikes against Russian facilities, something they only have a limited capability to do. Europe has done next to nothing to help them. The same can be said for the United States. If you think the Russians were undermining elections around the world, look at what they did to the Ukrainian election. It went way beyond anything they have done to another country. So far, the Russians have been immune to retaliation or retribution for those kinds of actions. No wonder they keep it going.
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