The British government has blamed the Russian military for a virus attack that crippled Ukrainian businesses and spread worldwide last year.
The June 2017 NotPetya cyberattack targeted mainly Ukrainian firms but spread globally, affecting shipping giant FedEx, Maersk and Russia’s Rosneft. It is estimated to have caused a total of $900 million in damages.
“The UK Government judges that the Russian government, specifically the Russian military, was responsible for the destructive NotPetya cyberattack,” the Foreign Office said in a statement published Thursday.
«Primary targets were Ukrainian financial, energy and government sectors. Its indiscriminate design caused it to spread further, affecting other European and Russian business.»
The government’s national cybersecurity center has confirmed the Russian military was “almost certainly” behind the NotPetya attack, the statement added.
London’s formal accusations come half a year after Ukrainian security services attributed NotPetya to the Kremlin, which has dismissed the claims as unfounded.
The CIA has determined with “high confidence” that Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) deployed the virus, the Washington Post reported last month.
