Slashdot Mirror
Ukrainian Banks, Electricity Firm Hit by Fresh Cyber Attack; Reports Claim the Ransomware Is Quickly Spreading Across the World (vice.com)
A massive cyber attack has disrupted businesses and services in Ukraine on Tuesday, bringing down the government's website and sparking officials to warn that airline flights to and from the country's capital city Kiev could face delays. Motherboard reports that the ransomware is quickly spreading across the world. From a report: A number of Ukrainian banks and companies, including the state power distributor, were hit by a cyber attack on Tuesday that disrupted some operations (a non-paywalled source), the Ukrainian central bank said. The latest disruptions follow a spate of hacking attempts on state websites in late-2016 and repeated attacks on Ukraine's power grid that prompted security chiefs to call for improved cyber defences. The central bank said an "unknown virus" was to blame for the latest attacks, but did not give further details or say which banks and firms had been affected. "As a result of these cyber attacks these banks are having difficulties with client services and carrying out banking operations," the central bank said in a statement. BBC reports that Ukraine's aircraft manufacturer Antonov, two postal services, Russian oil producer Rosneft and Danish shipping company Maersk are also facing "disruption, including its offices in the UK and Ireland."
According to local media reports, the "unknown virus" cited above is a ransomware strain known as Petya.A. Here's how Petya encrypts files on a system (video). News outlet Motherboard reports that Petya has hit targets in Spain, France, Ukraine, Russia, and other countries as well. From the report: "We are seeing several thousands of infection attempts at the moment, comparable in size to Wannacry's first hours," Costin Raiu, a security researcher at Kaspersky Lab, told Motherboard in an online chat. Judging by photos posted to Twitter and images provided by sources, many of the alleged attacks involved a piece of ransomware that displays red text on a black background, and demands $300 worth of bitcoin. "If you see this text, then your files are no longer accessible, because they are encrypted," the text reads, according to one of the photos. "Perhaps you are busy looking for a way to recover your files, but don't waste your time. Nobody can recover your files without our decryption service."
According to local media reports, the "unknown virus" cited above is a ransomware strain known as Petya.A. Here's how Petya encrypts files on a system (video). News outlet Motherboard reports that Petya has hit targets in Spain, France, Ukraine, Russia, and other countries as well. From the report: "We are seeing several thousands of infection attempts at the moment, comparable in size to Wannacry's first hours," Costin Raiu, a security researcher at Kaspersky Lab, told Motherboard in an online chat. Judging by photos posted to Twitter and images provided by sources, many of the alleged attacks involved a piece of ransomware that displays red text on a black background, and demands $300 worth of bitcoin. "If you see this text, then your files are no longer accessible, because they are encrypted," the text reads, according to one of the photos. "Perhaps you are busy looking for a way to recover your files, but don't waste your time. Nobody can recover your files without our decryption service."
Say no more
Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/tech...
Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.
Slashdot editors receive a lot of flak when they run dupes, or miss out on good stories. But this story about the ongoing cyber attack is literally the only one that makes sense - and I have read FT, NYT, and WSJ copies. Insightful summary, and perfectly stitched together. Kudos.
This ransomware has actually previously been defeated (April 2016), and a key generator tool was released:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.c...
fyi
Because I can! [Brainrub.com]
they used windows... they did not turn off SMB 1... their own fault if they are a large company
John
Seems like the story is missing a key piece of information
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
I do not think it is run-off-the-mill individuals who are behind an attack of this magnitude.
Because Ukraine is getting hit by far the hardest? Because they've been the subject of a long string of crippling cyberattacks since the Donbas conflict broke out, including highly sophisticated attacks that took down public utilities - so naturally people assume that this is more along those lines?
That doesn't mean that this is targeted at Ukraine; it could just be coincidence. But those numbers certainly are skewed. That said, if it was from Russia, they didn't do a good job at preventing it from hitting their own systems.
"99 dead duelists of Dios on the wall. 99 dead duelists of Dios! Take one's ring, pass it around..."
It's not a home invasion if the intruder presents himself as a delivery man / pizza guy, and you subsequently open the door.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
Interesting... ESET has a very different distribution analysis than Kaspersky, and they show almost exclusively Ukrainian targets, with Russia moved way down the list.
"99 dead duelists of Dios on the wall. 99 dead duelists of Dios! Take one's ring, pass it around..."
Demand goes infinite as the price approaches $0, and disappears as the price goes too high.
Demand will never exceed the number of machines infected - Not infinite. Lower, in fact, because a lot of victims don't have and will not create a bitcoin wallet even for a $1 ransom.
He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.