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How a Russian cyberwar in Ukraine could ripple out globally:
The knock-on effects for the rest of the world might not be limited to intentional reprisals by Russian operatives. Unlike old-fashioned war, cyberwar is not confined by borders and can more easily spiral out of control.
Ukraine has been on the receiving end of aggressive Russian cyber operations for the last decade and has suffered invasion and military intervention from Moscow since 2014. In 2015 and 2016, Russian hackers attacked Ukraine's power grid and turned out the lights in the capital city of Kyiv— unparalleled acts that haven't been carried out anywhere else before or since.
The 2017 NotPetya cyberattack, once again ordered by Moscow, was directed initially at Ukrainian private companies before it spilled over and destroyed systems around the world.
NotPetya masqueraded as ransomware, but in fact it was a purely destructive and highly viral piece of code. The destructive malware seen in Ukraine last week, now known as WhisperGate, also pretended to be ransomware while aiming to destroy key data that renders machines inoperable. Experts say WhisperGate is "reminiscent" of NotPetya, down to the technical processes that achieve destruction, but that there are notable differences. For one, WhisperGate is less sophisticated and is not designed to spread rapidly in the same way. Russia has denied involvement, and no definitive link points to Moscow.
NotPetya incapacitated shipping ports and left several giant multinational corporations and government agencies unable to function. Almost anyone who did business with Ukraine was affected because the Russians secretly poisoned software used by everyone who pays taxes or does business in the country.
The White House said the attack caused more than $10 billion in global damage and deemed it "the most destructive and costly cyberattack in history."
There can be no 'winners' - but are we even ready to defend ourselves against a cyberwar?
Previously:
(2019-02-18) Cyber Insurance claims NotPetya was an act of war
(2017-07-11) Original Petya Master Decryption Key Released
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday January 22 2022, @05:04PM (3 children)
When humans can no longer mock themselves, and laugh at themselves, they are no longer human. Slovaks can still laugh at themselves. That makes us god-like, because God surely laughs at all of us.
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 22 2022, @06:25PM (1 child)
Wrong. God blesses America.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Monday January 24 2022, @06:33AM
Does America really want Azathoth's blessing though?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by mcgrew on Saturday January 22 2022, @11:09PM
Music and laughter are the two things that only humans do, although there are some who are sure their dog has a sense of humor. Music has been proven scientifically (bird "song" is speech; volume and pitch are part of the languages). Most higher animals have brain patterns allowing some parts of music, but not all. I wish I had a link to the article. Maybe it was NOVA, I don't remember.
"Nobody knows everything about anything." — Dr Jerry Morton, Journey to Madness