London officially accused Moscow of attacking the virus-extortionist NotPetya

The British Foreign Ministry officially assigned to the Russian authorities the responsibility for a massive cyber attack using the virus-extortionist NotPetya, who infected hundreds of thousands of computers in the world last June. Just a few weeks before, another virus-extortionist, WannaCry, massively hit British hospitals and other institutions of the National Health System (NHS). "The Government of the United Kingdom comes to the conclusion that responsibility for the destructive cyber attack of NotPetya in June 2017 is borne by the Russian authorities, namely the Russian army," British Deputy Foreign Minister Tariq Ahmad said on Wednesday evening.

In Britain, dozens of organizations have suffered from the virus, including postal services, as well as advertising, legal, logistical and financial companies. However, almost three quarters of cases of infection were recorded in Ukraine. According to the ministry, the cyber attack was only furnished as extortion, but the true purpose of the virus was not to obtain a ransom, but to disrupt the work of Ukrainian state institutions, the financial and energy sectors of the economy. As a result, the virus spread further, infecting enterprises and organizations throughout Europe, including in Russia.

"This attack showed a stubborn disregard for Ukraine's sovereignty." The reckless launch of the virus led to the disruption of organizations throughout Europe and caused damage to hundreds of millions of pounds, "the British official said. "The Kremlin has put Russia in direct opposition to the West, but it should not be so, we appeal to Russia to become that responsible member of the international community as it positions itself, and not to try to destroy it secretly," he added. The assumption that the Russian special services are behind the NotPetya virus, were expressed earlier. In particular, such statements were made in the Security Service of Ukraine and in the American company FireEye, engaged in ensuring cybersecurity. Representatives of the Agency for Cybersecurity of NATO (CCDOE) also spoke in the same vein, however, not so harshly. They said that behind the creation of NotPetya there is a "state actor", without specifying what exactly is meant. "The Russian company Rosneft was also infected," the statement said, "but the infection had a limited effect and caused little damage." Not all agree with the hypothesis about the Russian trace of the virus. However, it is possible to reliably establish the authorship of the virus, only by catching a hacker with a red-handed.