The CIA has attributed to Russian military hackers a cyberattack that crippled computers in Ukraine last year, an effort to disrupt that country’s financial system amid its ongoing war with separatists loyal to the Kremlin, The Washington Post has reported.
The June 2017 attack, delivered through a mock ransomware virus dubbed NotPetya, wiped data from the computers of banks, energy firms, senior government officials and an airport.
The GRU military spy agency created NotPetya, the CIA concluded with “high confidence” in November, according to classified reports cited by US intelligence officials.
The CIA declined to comment.
The virus also affected computer systems in Denmark, India and the United States, but more than half of those victimized were in Ukraine.