Ukraine Scrambles To Contain New Cyber Threat After NotPetya Attack (reuters.com)

The Ukrainian software firm used as part of last week's global cyber attack warned on Wednesday that all computers sharing a network with its infected accounting software had been compromised by hackers. From a report: The attack used a virus, dubbed "NotPetya" by some experts, to take down thousands of computers in dozens of countries, disrupting shipping and businesses. A video released by Ukrainian police showed masked men in combat fatigues and armed with assault rifles raiding the offices of software developer Intellect Service late on Tuesday, after cyber security researchers said they had found a "backdoor" written into some of the updates issued by its M.E. Doc accounting software. M.E. Doc is used by 80 percent of Ukrainian companies and installed on around 1 million computers in the country. Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said police had blocked a second cyber attack from servers hosting the software.

Comments

Ask, Mr. President!

[Anonymous Coward]

Perhaps Trump could ask Putin to lay off of Ukraine for a bit when they meet this week.

Re: Ask, Mr. President!

[Anonymous Coward]

Is that you, minimum wage Colbert writer? Does gay sex make you feel better about your sad life?

Re: Ask, Mr. President!

[Anonymous Coward]

No, though your shitty life as extrapolated from your terrible attempt at rough humor makes me feel better about mine

Memories

[Zemran]

Has everyone forgot that a few years ago most malware was produced in Ukraine? Now they complain they are victims :D It would sound like irony but it will be blamed on Russia anyway regardless of what really happened.

Re:Memories

[hackel]

Right, because all Ukrainians are just one single entity, all equally responsible for the actions of any of their countrymen. What an idiotic thing to say.

Re:Memories

[Anonymous Coward]

More Russian propaganda from Vladimir Putain's 50 kopeyka army! Go home Boris you are drunk!

Re:Memories

[Anonymous Coward]

I wonder when the user account Zemran got purchased and started caring so much about Russians. Kinda like what was happening on reddit.

Re:Memories

[Anonymous Coward]

It is obvious that it is the Crimeans that are at fault. See, they were Ukrainian and now they are Russian.

Re:Memories

[Zemran]

Are they? I think you are wrong there so it may be you that is making idiotic comments.

80%?

[hackel]

Why is "M.E. Doc used by 80 percent of Ukrainian companies?" Since when is software a regional/national thing? It's not like those companies can't choose whatever accounting software they wish from anywhere in the world. How did this M.E. Doc establish such a monopoly in the country? It's bizarre, right? Is this some kind of Ukrainian-nationalism, where everyone only wants to support their own? (Yet they still choose to run Windows, which I'm sure has far fewer Ukrainian developers than any Linux-based operating system!) I really can't say that I feel bad for the individuals, but I feel bad for the country itself, since surely its economy doesn't need this kind of a blow right now.

Re:80%?

[cag_ii]

I'd guess it's due to tax laws, not software, being a /very/ regional thing.

Re:80%?

[xrobertcmx]

Keep in mind, 7 was not very hard to pirate.

Re:80%?

[Anonymous Coward]

How many companies do you honestly imagine are writing tax software with the legal particularities of the Ukrainian regulatory market in mind? There likely is no second player as it's too small a market. Even in the US Lacerte dominated like 80% of the CPA market before they got bought by Intuit and now Intuit is like 90% of the professional market. This is an area where 1 monopolist player is going to dominate because no one wants to risk malpractice claims by using software from some new player. When you used Lacerte tax software you got to claim you were definitely abiding by industry norms whenever the program told you X, Y or Z.

Re:80%?

[Herkum01]

Don't forget that maybe it is displayed in Ukrainian? I bet that would explain why it has a large market there as well.

Re:80%?

[frank_adrian314159]

Why is "M.E. Doc used by 80 percent of Ukrainian companies?"

Probably because it does accounting better for Ukrainian businesses, following changes in Ukrainian financial regulations far more quickly than does its international competitors and probably at a better price point. At least that's what my marketing sense tells me.

Re:80%?

[nickol]

This kind of accounting software indeed is a regional thing. It is intended for use in small to medium business and it has ready-made forms and reports. Also it reflects changes in local laws and regulations. Think of it like of a software for filling tax forms, it is not universal worldwide. In Russia there also exists the similar product, called 1C.
Windows? Yes, it's a long story. I do not know details about Ukraine, but in Russia until 1994 there were almost no laws against software piracy. Everybody could copy Windows without any risk. As a consequence, there are too many people who know only Windows. MEDoc and 1C are too busy implementing latest laws and regulations into their products, that they have no resources for development for Linux. BTW 1C has no Linux version also. I mean, in Russia there is the same threat.
I think nobody in Ukraine expected this.

Re:80%?

[gravewax]

Not sure why you got modded up. Regionally written software, especially when it deals with specific laws and localisation issues like Taxation and accounting is nearly always better sourced locally and hence it gets huge market share, this is not something unique to Ukraine.

Re:80%?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why is "M.E. Doc used by 80 percent of Ukrainian companies?"

Probably because it does accounting better for Ukrainian businesses, following changes in Ukrainian financial regulations far more quickly than does its international competitors and probably at a better price point. At least that's what my marketing sense tells me.

Which is exactly why Intuit's QuickBooks is still primarily used in the USA, and far less so in the rest of the world (even though they do have 'international' versions).

Commies eat their own?

[Anonymous Coward]

I knew that! No wonder Trump loves them so. He eat anything that fat fucker.

ukraine is weak

[Joe_Dragon]

ukraine is weak they are just folding to russia

Re:ukraine is weak

[Anonymous Coward]

On the other hand if Russia is so powerful why have they been unable to roll up Ukraine? Russia is no longer even close to being a super power although they like to pretend they are. The only people they frighten are the Europeans who like clockwork are prepared to roll over on their backs and present their throats anytime the Russians say mean things about them. One of the more successful Obama achievements was getting the Russians sucked into two separate and long running conflicts that are draining what little resources the Russians have to spare. And with a few cruise missiles, one Syrian military jet shoot down, and the destruction one Iranian drone during the Trump administration has erased any chance of Russia making a quick exit. The US really has no key interests in that region of the world but setting up conditions to keep the Russians and Iranians mired in a never ending conflict seems like a fairly good US policy to me. And I know it won't happen but Trump should elevate his ass hat level and face palm Putin at the G20 meeting on Friday. The US doesn't need a single thing from Russia. The most deadly weapon the US can wield against Russia is simply ignoring them. If Russia wants to be snotty the US can further subsidize it's domestic oil production and pump enough oil to drive the price down to $5.00 a barrel. 80% of the Russian budget is derived from oil exports. This strategy would also bite Iran in particular and OPEC in general in the ass as well.

Trumps more assertive stance is drawing the Russians deper into the conflict

The worst thing about the Ukraine situation is that NATO allowed Russia to invade and annex one portion of a sovereign country and start a civil war in the rest of the country. The Ukraine gave up their nuclear arsenal because the were promised, in writing, that NATO would protect them from invasion. This guarantees that no one currently possessing nuclear weapons will ever surrender them in the future. Countries that do not currently have nuclear weapons can develop or more likely buy them from Pakistan or NK.

Putin's Puppet "Asks" Donald. He is puppet master.

[bit trollent]

Donald Trump removed from the GOP platform language for punishing Russia invading Crimea and threatening Ukraine. citation provided

America is now essentially subservient to Russian foreign policy on Ukraine, which is why Trump never acknowledges Russia's ongoing attacks on Ukraine and the United States.

It's obvious that Donald Trump is acting as a puppet of Vladimir Putin, and has ceded control of America's foreign policy to the Russian agents that prop up his business empire while criminally attacking his political opponents.

The G20 meeting is a venue for Vladimir Putin to instruct Donald Trump to commit his next treasonous actions. In exchange Russia will collude with Donald Trump on additional attacks on American democracy.

Re:Poland has it's "Platnik" ("Payer").

[Anonymous Coward]

Why is "M.E. Doc used by 80 percent of Ukrainian companies?" Since when is software a regional/national thing? It's not like those companies can't choose whatever accounting software they wish from anywhere in the world. How did this M.E. Doc establish such a monopoly in the country? It's bizarre, right? Is this some kind of Ukrainian-nationalism, where everyone only wants to support their own?

It's so common for post comunist countries to centralize everything....almost 90% companies in Poland use this software

Re:Putin's Puppet "Asks" Donald. He is puppet mast

[Anonymous Coward]

Short version, Putin has Trump by the balls, Putin knows it, Trump knows it, anyone with out wool over their eyes can see it.

Re:Putin's Puppet "Asks" Donald. He is puppet mast

[Anonymous Coward]

Notice how even Slashdot's been getting that braindamaged flavor of reddit The_Donald troll, lately? Any political or letter agency article and they scurry out like cockroaches to post about how it's "BS" with "no shred of evidence." Should evidence be provided--which would make no sense during an active investigation--of course, these same tools will be among the first crying "LEAKS!"

The only winning move...

[The123king]

is not to play.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...