Ukraine said on Sunday that it had “evidence” of Russia’s involvement in the cyberattack that targeted several government sites this week, in a context of heightened tensions between Kiev and Moscow.
“As of today, all evidence points to Russia being behind the cyberattack,” Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation said in a statement.
The cyberattack occurred on the night of Thursday January 13 to Friday January 14 and targeted more than 70 Ukrainian government sites, which remained inaccessible for several hours.
The website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, hacked, had posted a threatening message written in Ukrainian, Russian and Polish: “Ukrainians, be afraid and prepare for the worst. All your personal data has been uploaded to the web”. “No leak of personal data has taken place, according to the information available”, immediately assured the Ukrainian authorities.
microsoft worried
Despite these reassuring statements, Microsoft warned on Sunday that this massive cyberattack could render the entire Ukrainian government IT structure inoperable.
Even though the detected malware looks like ransomware that usually blocks access to the computer by demanding payment of a ransom, it actually aims “to destroy and render inoperable the targeted sites, not to collect a ransom “said the American software giant on its blog.
“We found this malware on dozens of systems belonging to the government, but also to NGOs and information technology organizations, all based in Ukraine. At this stage, we cannot say what the operational cycle of this attack is, nor how many other organizations may be victims,” the company added.
Russian Hybrid War
This sabotage is according to the Ukrainian government “a manifestation of the hybrid war that Russia has been waging against Ukraine since 2014”, the year of the annexation of Crimea by Moscow which was followed by an ongoing conflict between the forces of Kiev and pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country.
“Ukrainians blame Russia for everything that happens to them, even the bad weather in their country,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov quipped on CNN, denying Russian responsibility for the attack.
The cyberattack came amid rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine, with Kiev and its Western allies accusing Moscow of massing troops on its border in preparation for an invasion. Some experts believe that a possible invasion could be preceded by acts of computer sabotage aimed at disorganizing the Ukrainian authorities.
Talks stalled
Talks held this week between Russia and the West this week failed to calm tensions. The United States even accused Russia on Friday of having deployed agents in Ukraine to carry out “sabotage” operations in order to create a “pretext” for an invasion.
Russia continues to deny any plan of aggression by Ukraine, but demands “guarantees” to ensure its security, starting with a commitment from NATO not to accept Kiev as a member of the alliance.
The American negotiators, who refuse to let go of ballast on NATO, propose a longer “process” of discussions centered on the control of armaments and the limitation of military maneuvers, recurring sources of tension. An insufficient proposal in the eyes of the Russians, who did not consider it useful to continue the discussions and are awaiting written responses to their demands as of next week.