Great Britain accused the Russian Federation of cyber attacks using the NotPetya virus



LONDON, February 15th. / TASS /. Great Britain blamed Russia for a large-scale cyber attack using the NotPetya virus in Ukraine in June 2017. As reported by the Press Association (PA) on Thursday, this was stated by the Deputy Foreign Minister of the United Kingdom, Tariq Ahmad, who oversees cybersecurity in the UK department.

"We believe that the Russian government, especially the Russian armed forces, is responsible for the destructive cyber attack using the NotPetya virus in June 2017. This attack demonstrated continued disregard for Ukrainian sovereignty," the British diplomat said, adding that the virus caused damage to European enterprises for "hundreds of millions of pounds."

Ahmad called on Russia "to be a responsible member of the international community" instead of "secretly trying to undermine it." "The Kremlin has put Russia in direct confrontation with the West, but it should not be so," he believes.

"We are committed to strengthening coordinated international efforts to maintain a free, open, peaceful and secure cyberspace," the representative of the British Foreign Ministry said.

In turn, British Defense Minister Gavin Williamson expressed confidence that the United Kingdom faced new methods of warfare. "We entered a new era [in terms of methods and methods] of warfare, witnessing a destructive and deadly combination of conventional military power and malicious cyber attacks," he says.

"Russia neglects the generally accepted rules, undermines democracy, disables life-support facilities, targets critical infrastructure, and takes up information.We must be prepared to confront these obvious and growing threats," the British Defense Minister said.

Following the US

The Washington Post reported in January that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) believes that the computer virus NotPetya, which attacked a number of companies and organizations in Russia and Ukraine, was "highly likely" to have been created in the Main Intelligence Agency (GRU, now the General Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation). The edition then referred to sources familiar with the secret reports of US intelligence.

Cyberattack

On June 27, 2017, the extortion virus blocking access to data and requiring money to unlock attacked dozens of energy, telecommunications and financial companies and organizations in Russia and Ukraine, and then spread around the world. Experts of the company Group-IB, specializing in computer security and protection from cyberthreats, called the virus-encryptor Petya the reason for this attack, which prevents the loading of the operating system, blocks computers and requires a ransom of $ 300 in bitcoins. Later, Kaspersky Lab came to the conclusion that the world faced a new virus-extortionist, the company called it NotPetya.

The Russian authorities have repeatedly stated that they have no involvement in the large-scale cyber attacks that have taken place in recent years. In July 2017, the presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov called absurd accusations against Russia about her involvement in the organization of cyber attacks on Ukrainian resources.

Link: http://tass.ru/mezhdunarodnaya-panorama/4959219