In addition to DDoS attacks, cybersecurity researchers said unidentified attackers had infected hundreds of computers with destructive malware, some in neighboring Latvia and Lithuania.
Asked if the denial-of-service attacks were continuing, senior Ukrainian cyber defense official Victor Zhora did not answer. "Are you serious?" he texted. "There are ballistic missiles here."
"This is terrible. We need the world to stop it. Immediately," Zhora said of the offensive that Russian President Vladimir Putin announced in the pre-dawn hours.
Officials have long expected cyberattacks to precede and accompany any Russian military incursion. The combination of DDoS attacks, which bombard websites with junk traffic to render them unreachable, and malware infections hewed to Russia's playbook of wedding cyber operations with real-world aggression.
ESET Research Labs said it detected a previously unseen piece of data-wiping malware on "hundreds of machines in the country." It was not clear how many networks were affected.
"With regards whether the malware was successful in its wiping capability, we assume that this indeed was the case and affected machines were wiped" said ESET research chief Jean-lan Boutin. He would not name the targets but said they were “large organizations."
ESET was unable to say who was responsible.
This story is from the February 26, 2022 edition of Techlife News.
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This story is from the February 26, 2022 edition of Techlife News.
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