Here’s an interesting thought:
What happens when a cyber attack eventually takes the entire internet offline?
Imagine no email, no social media, no ATMs, no way to buy anything with a debit card or credit card...etc.
What then?
Just my two cents but we’ve made ourselves too dependent on this technology.
I’ll talk Russia for $400 please Alex...
Exact motive for hack attack will likely remain speculation.
Here’s what’s known via latest update from Krebs:
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2017/06/petya-ransomware-outbreak-goes-global/#more-39734
The latest information about update:
1. It’s not Petya, although it may be by the author of Petya. It’s even being called “NotPetya”.
2. There is no kill switch, but the program checks for the presence of a file called “perfc” in c:windows. If the file is present, the ransomware at least does not run.
3. Posteo in Germany have closed the email account that was the sole point of contact for those infected. So now victims don’t have any hope of getting their files back unless they have a complete backup.
4. As well as ETERNALBLUE the authors are using a second NSA exploit, ETERNALROMANCE.
The panic is somewhat overdone unless of course you’re working for a large organisation with thousands of endpoints. The infection phase is almost certainly over now and it won’t spread outside infected networks.
See BleepingComputer for more info
1 – As Breaking News:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/wannacry-d-j-vu-petya-ransomware-outbreak-wreaking-havoc-across-the-globe/
2. Posteo removes email account
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/email-provider-shuts-down-petya-inbox-preventing-victims-from-recovering-files/
3. Origin + Infection routine
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/petya-ransomware-outbreak-originated-in-ukraine-via-tainted-accounting-software/
4. “Vaccine”
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/vaccine-not-killswitch-found-for-petya-notpetya-ransomware-outbreak/
My hospital system depends on one provider of a service, and it went down yesterday. At least we have downtime procedures but still a big problem.
A virus hitting an infrastructure’s network like a power grid,dam or 100 million EBT cards would be problematic. An EMP in theory can lay waste to the grid if placed in the right place in the atmosphere thus making most of the internet useless. We have known of these problems since the Cold War but there are other priorities besides keeping our society from going back to the 18th Century and most of the population dead within a year.
Ukraine is rapidly becoming like Nigeria, a cesspool of computer scams and frauds.