Head of the Ukrainian Internet Association (UIA) Alexander Fedienko has ruled out that Russia may have been behind the Petya ransomware attack that struck the country’s government network infrastructure, the banking sector and private companies.
“Personally, I don’t support this theory (about Russia’s role). This is more reminiscent of a battle between a subculture and society. There is a virtual society of hackers that every time taps regular society on the shoulder as a reminder that they should not forget about them. In fact, this has always been the case and there has always been a standoff between hackers and companies, developing antivirus software,” Fedienko told Ukraine’s Apostrophe portal.
Fedienko also said the affected computers are unlikely to be rescued. “Judging on the analysis of our specialists, it is clear that files have been completely encrypted due to the virus,” he said. “All the equipment tainted by this virus can be simply tossed into a trash can, since it is impossible to cure computers from this virus.”
At the moment, according to the Ukrainian government’s press service, specialists have managed to stop the virus from spreading and are assessing the damage inflicted by the cyber attack.