Cyber Experts Should be On The Lookout

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Is an extensive cyber attack expected again? The Ukrainian cyber security firm, ISSP, recently announced that it may have detected a new computer virus distribution campaign, after security services said Ukraine could face cyber-attacks similar to those which knocked out global systems in June.

According to voanews.com, the attack in late June, which received the nickname NotPetya, took down many Ukrainian government agencies and businesses, before spreading rapidly through corporate networks of multinationals with operations or suppliers in eastern Europe.

ISPP said that as with NotPetya, the new malware seemed to originate in accounting software and could be intended to take down networks when Ukraine celebrates its Independence Day.

In a statement, the state cyber police said they also had detected new malicious software. The incident is “in no way connected with global cyber-attacks like those that took place on June 27 of this year and is now fully under control,” it said. The state cyber police and the Security and Defense Council have said Ukraine could be targeted with a this type of attack, aimed at destabilizing the country, as it marks its 1991 independence from the Soviet Union.

Not long ago, the central bank said it had warned state-owned and private lenders of the appearance of new malware, spread by opening email attachments of word documents.

Ukraine – regarded by some, despite Kremlin denials, as a guinea pig for Russian state-sponsored hacks – is fighting an to keep state institutions and systemic companies safe.