WASHINGTON, February 16. /TASS/. The White House on Thursday claimed that Russia was behind the 2017 NotPetya ransomware attack in June 2017, which inflicted multibillion losses in Europe, Asia and the Western Hemisphere.
"In June 2017, the Russian military launched the most destructive and costly cyber-attack in history," a statement by the White House reads. "The attack, dubbed "NotPetya," quickly spread worldwide, causing billions of dollars in damage across Europe, Asia, and the Americas."
The US administration alleges that the attack was "part of the Kremlin’s ongoing effort to destabilize Ukraine" and "demonstrates ever more clearly Russia’s involvement in the ongoing conflict."
"This was also a reckless and indiscriminate cyber-attack that will be met with international consequences," the White House said.
On June 27, 2017, a ransomware blocking access to data and demanding money for unblocking it attacked dozens of energy, telecom and financial companies in Russia and Ukraine, spreading across the world afterwards. Experts from the Group-IB computer security company said the Petya encrypting ransomware was behind the massive cyber attack. The malware prevented operating systems from loading, blocked computers and demanded a ransom of the Bitcoin equivalent of $300. Kaspersky Lab later came to the conclusion that the world had faced a new ransomware, naming it NotPetya.
The Kremlin has earlier rejected similar allegations of Russia’s involvement. Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov strongly rejected the claims as "groundless," adding that they were part of the "similarly groundless campaign based on hatred against Russia.".