Russian security services involved in recent cyber attack: Ukraine

PanARMENIAN.Net - Ukraine said on Saturday, July 1 that the Russian security services were involved in a recent cyber attack that hit Ukraine, saying the aim was to destroy important data and spread panic, Reuters reports.

The SBU, Ukraine's state security service, said the attack, which started in Ukraine and spread around the world on Tuesday, was by the same hackers who attacked the Ukrainian power grid in December 2016. Ukrainian politicians were quick to blame Russia for Tuesday's attack, but a Kremlin spokesman dismissed "unfounded blanket accusations".

Cyber security firms are trying to piece together who was behind the computer worm, dubbed NotPetya by some experts, which conked out computers, disrupted shipping and shut down a chocolate factory in Australia across an estimated 60 countries.

"The available data, including those obtained in cooperation with international antivirus companies, give us reason to believe that the same hacking groups are involved in the attacks, which in December 2016 attacked the financial system, transport and energy facilities of Ukraine using TeleBots and BlackEnergy," the SBU said.

"This testifies to the involvement of the special services of Russian Federation in this attack."

Russia and Ukraine have been at loggerheads since 2014 Krimea crisis.