Ukraine says it has evidence that Russia is behind cyber attack | Abroad

The ministry places the sabotage in the “hybrid war that Russia has been waging against Ukraine since 2014”. The cyber attack should not only “intimidate society”, but also “destabilize” the situation in the country by undermining Ukrainians’ trust in their government, it said.

The cyber attack took place this week amid mounting tensions between Ukraine and large neighbor Russia. The West accuses Moscow of preparing an attack on its neighbor. Russia argues that the massive deployment of the Russian military in the border region is merely a response to NATO’s growing and hostile presence in an area that, according to the Russians, falls within their sphere of influence. There are no plans to invade Ukraine, Moscow insists.

Ukraine has been the target of Russian cyber-attacks several times in recent years: in 2017, critical infrastructures were hit and in 2015 the attack targeted the electricity grid.

Meanwhile, the American tech giant Microsoft reported on Sunday that malicious software has been discovered on dozens of computers in Ukraine, making those PCs no longer usable. The software is not aimed at extortion, but would serve to destroy data on the order of the client. Microsoft speaks of malware that is “intended to be destructive”. The software was found on government computers and IT specialists, but also NGOs. According to Microsoft, there is an increased risk to all computer systems in Ukraine.

The cyber attack started in the night from Thursday to Friday against numerous government websites. Microsoft does not say who is behind the attack, there are no similarities with existing groups. But specialists at the company do suspect that the attacker acted on behalf of a country.