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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: 1) by khallow on Saturday January 22 2022, @07:42PM (4 children)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 23 2022, @12:14AM (3 children)
The reason is clear: to deny Russia access to Black Sea ports by forcing them out of Crimea. This is just a continuing play of the US domination of the globe, encirclemant and suppression of adversaries.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday January 23 2022, @12:38AM
Is there anyone other than Russia that would have a problem with that? My bet is that if Russia had been a nice adversary in the first place - at least to the Ukraine, they'd be invited to Sevastopol. No need for these power games.
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Sunday January 23 2022, @03:36AM
Russia has a huge navy port at Novorossiysk. Crimea is actually poorly suited for a Naval Base.
When life isn't going right, go left.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Monday January 24 2022, @06:11AM
This is an odd statement, he's speaking like a Russian troll but is displaying an American's lack of knowledge of geography. A.... Russian/American?