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Demonstration of a hacker attack: The attackers wanted destruction
Photo: Julian Stratenschulte/ dpa
According to the US company Microsoft, the massive cyber attack on the Ukrainian government's website could have caused more damage and affect more organizations than initially assumed. "Our investigation teams have identified the malware on dozens of affected systems, and that number could increase as our investigation progresses," a company spokesman said Sunday. The analysis of the malware is not yet complete. However, the attackers were probably concerned with rendering the government's digital infrastructure unusable.
The malware is similar to so-called ransomware, which hackers use to block their victims' computer systems and only release them again for a ransom.
However, the software used in the attack on the Ukrainian government "does not contain a ransom collection mechanism."
Instead, it is designed to cause damage and "make the target devices inoperable," Microsoft explained.
According to information published on Sunday, Kiev now has "evidence" that Russia was involved in the attack.
"Everything indicates that Russia is behind the cyber attack," said Ukraine's Ministry of Digital Transformation.
Previously, Kiev had stated that there were "indications" of a possible involvement of Russian secret services.
Moscow immediately denied the allegations.
"The Ukrainians blame everything on Russia, even the bad weather in their country," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told CNN.
The cyber attack on Friday night took place against the background of heightened tensions between Russia and the West in the Ukraine conflict.
With a massive Russian troop deployment on the border with Ukraine, there are fears Moscow could attack the neighboring country.
Several diplomatic crisis talks in the past few days were intended to ease tensions, but brought no progress.
mike/AFP